Apocrypha
by dsw78
Summary: Desire beat fate. A future was secured, but for how long?
1. Prologue, Eternity

A/N: This is my very first public fanfiction, yeah! Uh, please R&R, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I'd like to preface this by giving an enormous, Apus-sized thank you to olcon, Bettergiraffe, evad4009, MajesticKnight28, Darliolin1221, Ambient_Riot, and KingPolar. You guys really made me feel better after some… interesting episodes (14, especially) and I think that you tried your best with what you were given. Please don't be too hard on yourself, and keep writing! Mastermind, Alt. Romance, and KingPolar's oneshots (I need a better name for these) are wonderful - I can't wait to see where they're going.

So then, let's take the ending we don't like, and rewrite it. I'm sure it's what Hiro and Zero Two want.

(rated M because there might be mentioning of dinobaby-making)

* * *

True Apus accelerated through VIRM's ranks, with Hringhorni in hand, intent on one thing: freeing those poor souls, trapped by Papa, once and for all.

Its pilots remained singularly determined; they'd resolved on coming this far, this last push would be nothing. Through their love, for each other and their friends, they could do it.

Apus neared the planet that VIRM was using as its home, and prepared her delivery.

The mech-woman shouted as she cut open a space for the Grand Klaxosaur Fleet's flagship, now turned bomb, inside of VIRM's home planet. She thrust her hand into the explosive device, as her darling began priming it.

A copy of Hringhorni shot past her, barely missing her exposed arm. In response, Zero Two shielded the tear and bomb with her body, whilst focusing all her remaining energy into rear shields. VIRM's ships and spears pounded against their shields, to no avail - the burst of energy she'd received after their final confession coming in handy.

Hiro didn't quite understand the mechanism that the bomb worked around, but he figured he'd manage. He always had, and he always would, thanks to Zero Two. Finding the right connections, he exclaimed his success.

Her darling yelled that he'd finished setting the bomb up; it would explode thirty seconds after Apus' connection was terminated. Smirking, Zero Two removed her arm from the port, but found it stuck. Hiro noticed almost immediately, and began concocting various ways of resolving the issue. Only one stuck out to him, though: eject Strelizia.

He knew that doing so would most definitely shut Apus down, and thus activate the explosive, but that Zero Two might not be able to escape the mech. His distraught thoughts flowed into Zero Two's mind as well, and after a bit of deliberation, she'd decided what to do.

She sent one last burst of love and joy through the mental link. Hiro, realizing what she was about to do, began to protest, "Zero Tw-!"

 _Darling, I'm sorry._

A golden, screaming bolt of light shot out of Apus' nape.

* * *

"Did it work?" Goro asked. Ai had noticed Zero Two's petrified body was transmitting information to wherever she was, so Squad 13 and the remaining parasites congregated around the statue, giving the klaxo-human and her darling the encouragement they needed to finish their fight.

"I think so," Ichigo replied, looking up at the clouds. They'd begun to form around their makeshift group, and they were… dark, but somehow welcoming, she'd realized. "Looks like it's gonna rain."

Zorome looked up, eyes widening. "Yeah, we'd better get inside. Really isn't looking good out here right now. Miku?"

The person in question started, still entranced in the sort-of ritual they'd just conducted. "Huh? Oh! Um, yeah, those clouds look pretty bad."

Zorome grabbed her hand. "Well, let us know when those idiots get back. See ya!" He took off, dragging the former pistil behind him - surprising him with the lack of resistance she had in doing this.

Kokoro picked up Ai, before turning to Mitsuru, asking, "Papa, should we go in? I'm not sure Ai would take well to a thunderstorm just now."

Mitsuru looked over at his wife and daughter, before looking back up at the sky, transfixed. "You can go in with her. I've got to see my friends home."

Kokoro nodded and walked off to the Bird Nest with Ai, who was, much like her father, looking up at the clouds.

Ikuno and Naomi were next, citing 'unfinished business' that they needed to attend to, followed by Futoshi, who needed to check on his baked goods.

After a while, Ichigo, Goro, and Mitsuru were the only people surrounding Zero Two's body.

"Do you really think they'll be back this soon?" Ichigo asked Mitsuru. She couldn't see how defeating VIRM, and then returning from god-knows-where in the universe to Earth would take less than a year, but… Hiro and Zero Two have pulled off stranger things before.

"Yes. If there's one thing I know about those two, it's them and promises. They've got several needing to be attended to, back here. I doubt they'd waste any time in returning home," Mitsuru explained, smiling at the thought of seeing the two again.

Goro chimed in. "I agree. If there's two things that idiot Hiro wants to do, it's to see us again, and get married to Zero Two, preferably in that order."

About two years ago, Ichigo would've thrown a fit about hearing Hiro wanting to marry someone other than her, but now?

Now, she'd love to be Zero Two's maid of honor. Oh, how things have changed. That thought brought a smile to her face - Zero Two in a wonderful white dress, carrying Strelizias, walking to Hiro in a matching blazer. Hachi performing the ceremony, plenty of tears to go around, and maybe, just maybe, she'd get the bouquet. After all, she was waiting for a certain blonde-haired man to ask her that one big question.

Said blonde-haired man raised his head up, wind blowing through his hair. "It's coming," he said, before the downpour began.

* * *

Zero Two had to finish this.

For her darling, for her Hiro. It was ironic, then, that she'd be the one saving him and the rest of humanity through her sacrifice. She was her Hiro's hero.

Apus stopped protecting its arm, and Papa got his second shot in - it hit, this time - and the bomb started to go off. Zero Two laid the mech back, and closed her eyes, waiting for death to take her away from all she loved.

Minutes passed, and she felt nothing. Surprised, she opened her eyes to an endless sea of white. Off in the distance, she spotted three figures: a dark haired man, a blonde haired woman, and in between the two, a dark haired girl. Zero Two started off towards them, intent on finding out what this place was.

As she approached, the trio took notice of her and went towards her, too.

The man spoke up first. "You shouldn't be here yet, 002," he said, "There is more to be done in the physical realm."

The girl continued, "You've performed admirably, daughter. But your king, and your family, await you on Earth. You will find no solace here."

The woman hummed her agreement, joking that Zero Two had her own black-haired guy at home, and that he was missing her.

Zero Two was stunned at the words. Was she really dead? Was this the afterlife? It felt empty without Hiro. _She_ felt empty without Hiro. Did he feel the same? The three souls in front of her though so.

"So, how do I go back?" Zero Two asked.

The three chuckled, the man speaking up. "We'll send you back, don't worry. We just need to confirm something." The girl knelt in front of Zero Two and placed her hand on the stunned klaxo-human's belly, pulling away after a moment.

"She'll be good, though it's good we checked - I'm not sure if it would've worked otherwise. I fixed everything she needs," the girl stated, smiling. "Make sure you put that to good use. We klaxo sapiens aren't doing so well in numbers at the moment."

Zero Two was confused. "'We?' You're a klaxo sapiens?"

The girl smiled, responding, "Yes, although I much prefer looking human. Mr. Frank and his wife have took me in as their own here."

Mr. Frank grabbed his wife and the girl's hand, before thanking Zero Two for giving the universe, and humanity, another chance.

Zero Two was enveloped in light, and found herself soaking wet.

* * *

Goro shielded Ichigo from the incredibly heavy rain while Mitsuru pulled out a fairly large umbrella. Goro was thankful for his resourcefulness, but also surprised that he'd brought one at all. "W-why did you bring that?"

Mitsuru simply said, "I had a feeling I'd need one," before letting Ichigo and Goro under the umbrella.

Bolts of lightning penetrated the air, and the trio were glad for once that they'd spent so much time setting up lightning rods, despite the lack of inclement weather. The bolts merely hit the surrounding rods, not the umbrella, or worse, Zero Two.

Goro wasn't quite sure if the lightning would actually harm the statue at all, but better to be safe than sorry, eh? He grinned, then started laughing as Ichigo started pouting over her… lack of being dry.

"Goro, it's really not funny!" she admonished, playfully hitting Goro on the shoulder, merely causing him to laugh more.

"I'm sorry, you just look like a recently-washed strawberry!" he chuckled, earning a blush and further bashfulness from his blue-haired companion.

Mitsuru smiled a little at his friends' rapport. "Get a room, you two," he snarked, getting the taller man to blush and nearly making Ichigo overheat, despite the wetness.

"Oi, oi, we're not quite there _yet_ … " Goro teased, causing Ichigo to start bleeding from her nose a little.

"Goro, you do not know the _start_ of the things you do to me," Ichigo said, causing the man in question to be confused.

"Huh?"

Ichigo realized what she said and attempted to divert the conversation while they waited, almost stubbornly, for their friends' return. "So, Mitsuru, how are things with Ai and Kokoro?"

Mitsuru smiled at the mentioning of his family. "They're good. Ai is learning to speak slowly, and Kokoro is excited that she's been relatively calm lately."

Ichigo felt a twang of something in her, at the prospect of children, maybe? She'd never really considered it, but -

A huge, golden bolt of lightning hit the ground some distance away from where they were standing. Wait, that wasn't a bolt, it was -

"Strelizia?" Three voices asked at once.

The mech was shining, literally glowing like the sun, and Mitsuru was enraptured by its beauty. He'd heard tell of what Apus looked like, but this was something else entirely. He pushed those thoughts aside and wondered who was inside.

The mech collapsed into the crater it made, shutting down after delivering its cargo. The glow eventually faded, leaving the mech its trademark white and red, although Ichigo noticed a little bit of blue in there now, too.

Its hatch opened, and out crawled a tall, raven-haired man with long blue horns. As he came closer, they saw rainwater - maybe tears - on his face. The man stumbled towards where the three were standing, with them fully recognizing him.

"Hiro?!" Ichigo asked. He looked… _different_. If she had to say, Zero Two would be elated to see him like this, like _her_. Or so she thought, anyways.

"Hey," he replied, smiling at the thought that he'd made it back soon. That smile turned into a frown as he realized that he'd made it back alone. Goro could clearly tell that the water on his face wasn't rain. He got under the umbrella, and Goro was taken aback at just how tall Hiro was now. Hiro stood over even _him_. "How have things been? How long were we gone?" Hiro asked, shakily.

Mitsuru frowned. "Not the best. We've been having difficulties getting the crops to grow, even with Mistilteinn's soil." Mitsuru checked his calendar, replying to the second question, "You've been gone for 783 days."

Hiro smiled, revealing his elongated canines to his friends, smiling further at their lack of reaction. "Two years. Good, so we didn't miss all that much…" Hiro said, eyes downcast. "Where's Zero Two?"

Goro pointed to Hiro's left. "Over there." Hiro walked over to her petrified body, and touched their horns together. When no response came, Hiro tried again and again, hoping against all hope that he'd see where his Zero Two - no, she was now his _honey_ , like he was her darling - was.

After a few minutes of trying, Hiro sank to his knees, grabbing onto Zero Two's legs. "Please, honey, please just come back. This world needs you. Squad 13 needs you. _I need you_ ," he sniffled, before letting the tears come back. "We promised. We promised to get back to our family, to finish the picture book, to get married, and to never let each other go again. Please, please, please! Uphold your end of those promises!" Hiro waited a moment, and after no response, looked up at his love's petrified body. "Please, honey. I can't live without you."

For a brief moment, blinding light shone around the two klaxo-humans. Ichigo, Goro, and Mitsuru would later describe it as calming, less agitated than Strelizia's had been.

When Hiro regained his vision, he found himself staring up at regular, horn-y Zero Two. He stood up fully, and embraced her, savoring all the senses she stirred in him.

Zero Two wasn't surprised at all when, after literally dying, she was greeted upon her return to the real world by her darling.

She returned his embrace eagerly, pressing him against her fully. The two hybrids stood there for what felt like an eternity, before breaking off and giggling at their reunion.

Zero Two then realized she was looking _up_ at him. "You're… tall, darling," she stated.

He laughed more, and leaned down to kiss her again.

The witnesses of the Rain King and Queen's fated reunion smiled, as water poured down all around them.


	2. Promises

A/N: Thanks for all the support, it's great to see you guys happy. To some reviewers, I hope this chapter addresses a few concerns, and please, keep on telling me if I can improve! This isn't just my story, you know. It's our story, our love letter to the community, and I'd like to make it the best that I can.

Forgot to say this before, but I don't own DitF - if I did, that first chapter there might've been animated.

(contains (relatively) non-explicit sexual references)

* * *

Ichigo pinched herself. Was this a dream? Two of her best friends had just returned from saving them all, and were basically perfectly okay?

She mentally cursed herself for her lack of reaction yesterday - her, Mitsuru, and Goro had basically done nothing! She was too stunned at the time, and she supposed the other two were as well.

So, her emotions decided to come out now. She knew for a fact that the hybrid couple were asleep - and had been for the past fourteen hours. Apus and being enstoned had kept their physical bodies alive and supplemented, but without either, the stress and exhaustion really started to take its toll on them.

So much so that they'd had Ichigo sneak them in through the back of the Bird Nest, because all they wanted to do was sleep. Tearful reunions could wait their turn.

So only her, Goro, and Mitsuru knew that the Earth's saviors we're back. She wondered how the others would react to this news. She began formulating a plan to tell the other former parasites, and maybe have that feast Futoshi mentioned back at the Gran Crevasse.

Right as she was getting the details down, she heard a loud scream and several things falling over coming from the direction of the dining hall.

Well, there goes the plan for an organized reunion.

* * *

Hiro was mentally cursing himself for his carelessness. Sure, he hadn't slept at all for two years and barely got any last night, but preventing slipping on nothing and dropping his massive breakfast should have been second nature!

He rolled over on his back, groaning. Could this day get any worse?

Someone knocked on the door, and Hiro heard Miku's voice coming from the other side. "Everything OK in there?" she yelled, waiting a moment for a response. When none came, she opened the door to find… a bunch of food on the floor.

"Did ya find anything?" asked Zorome, who was unable to see into the room.

Miku sighed. "No, probably just some troublemakers again. Can you try to get them out?"

Zorome smiled, before marching into the room with his old-man voice, commanding the youngsters to reveal themselves, or face his wrath!

Hiro had to suppress a laugh as he hid under the nearest table. Zorome really had no clue who was in here, did he? After a few moments of trying, Zorome gave up and walked back to his room, followed closely by Miku. After the coast was clear, Hiro got up and sighed defeatedly.

 _Great, and now I need to shower - without food! Zero Two is going to kill me when I get back_! Fortunately for Hiro, said pink-haired girl was fast asleep, unable to stay awake after spending all night reassuring her darling with affirmations that yes, she was there, and yes, she wouldn't leave him again. He was distraught, to say the least, when they got back. She'd never seen him cry that much.

Hiro entered the spare suite that Ichigo had granted him and Zero Two after their return, and quietly began preparing for his shower. Wouldn't do to wake her up when he didn't have food… he was positive she was starving.

Hiro entered the shower, hoping that the barracks had thick enough walls and doors. However, as he turned on the water, a pair of crimson-cerulean eyes began to open…

Zero Two was awakened from her rest by the sound of water. What was it with her and the liquid lately, anyways? First the encounter in Apus' consciousness, then their return, then this? She'd have to ask Hiro about it, eventually - maybe he did figure out how to make it rain. She sat up, looking for the source of the sound, locating it as the shower. _So darling's back… what to do, what to do? Think!_ Zero Two concentrated hard, wondering what she could possibly do to help her darling today.

Suddenly, a thought blossomed inside of her. Maybe the water was useful for something, after all? She giggled, then straightened, her instincts right now telling her one thing: get in that damn shower.

Hiro was humming softly to himself, washing two years' worth of sweat and a few minutes' worth of egg off of his tired body. He was finishing up when he heard the curtain open slightly behind him.

"Honey? Is that you?" he asked. He genuinely wasn't sure - if it was her, she hadn't acted this assertive in a while. The Zero Two from two years ago would've waited outside for him, maybe even with a towel, definitely not coming in while he was washing himself off.

No response. Nothing but the running water's splashing filled the small showering area. After a moment, Hiro went to turn around, and came face-to-face with an incredibly red Zero Two, the blush she was sporting almost certainly _not_ because of the hot water. He wasn't sure about his own cheeks, either. Was it her, or the hot shower? He thought he knew. Their staring contest began to deepen, hunger filling his honey's eyes as she looked him up and down. Hiro couldn't really tell what she was doing, but he had an interesting feeling about this.

"Darling, you look so handsome now," she murmured, kissing him, before pulling away. "Not to say, that is, that you'd never looked good, but now-!"

He cut her off with a kiss, before his body acted on its own, pushing her against the shower wall. "I know you've never been able to get enough of me. I feel the same way about you," he growled, his hands beginning to roam. The water was steaming now, but Zero Two didn't care. In this moment, the only thing she cared about was him.

Their session continued on like this for a couple minutes, and Zero Two looked like she wanted to go further, but Hiro stopped her before she could do anything. "You're so beautiful, honey," he said, allowing his rational brain to subsume his lizard brain, "But we should really get something to eat. Can't go sleeping another fourteen hours, can we?"

She pouted a bit, but agreed. Loathe as she was to admit it, she'd read sex was exhausting, and both of them had a feeling that the rest of Squad 13 wanted to see them ASAP. The pair exited the space, and got dressed in their parasite attire. Ichigo had prepared a proper pistil outfit for Zero Two, and after seeing Zero Two in nothing but a hospital gown or her birthday suit after two years of not seeing her _at all_ , Hiro had to admit she looked really, _really_ good in the regular parasites' black-and-grey. She was about to put the beanie on that matched her hair, but he stopped her. "You don't need to hide your horns anymore, honey. Not one person in this entire complex cares that you have them," he reassured, bringing his love to tears.

"Darling, you always know just what to say," she laughed, setting the beanie down. She grabbed his hand, pulling him up. "Let's get that breakfast then, shall we?"

He gave her a small smile, nodding his agreement, and the two set off down the staff entrance to the cafeteria, ensuring no one would see them.

* * *

Ichigo ran towards the cafeteria, only to find Zorome walking back towards his room, Miku following him. "Action repo- what happened?" the bluenette asked, concern for either of her hybrid friends lacing her voice.

Zorome shrugged. "We think a couple kids got into the food, again. Spilled it everywhere. We couldn't find those brats afterwards, though," he said angrily.

Miku slapped him in the back of his head. "I've told you to stop calling little children 'brats!'" she admonished, causing Zorome to apologize just a bit sincerely. Just a bit.

Ichigo smiled at her friends' antics, and let them go, reminding them of their gardening duty later in the day. After they'd given her a mock salute, she continued onwards towards the cafeteria, finding it empty. She looked at the mess in front of her and sighed. _Just how much were they planning on eating, anyway? This looks fit for royalty_! The short girl resolved herself to clean up after her friends - who could blame them, they were tired! - and had just finished when she saw the culprits walk into the mess hall, talking quietly, hands interlaced.

"Ichigo!" Zero Two ran towards her, picking the other pistil up in her arms. "I missed you, so so so much! But I came back, because a soldier always obeys her commander's orders!"

Ichigo laughed. "I told you, it didn't matter how long it took! I'm glad you kept your promise, though. It's so wonderful to have you two back," she said, joyous tears filling her eyes.

Hiro decided this was his moment to join the group hug, and thanked Ichigo for her support, and for her command. He wasn't sure if they'd be back without Ichigo, and he was so very grateful for that. To be here, surrounded by his family, was a dream come true. The trio all started to cry, their emotions for each other pouring onto their cheeks.

After a few minutes, the hybrids decided that it was time to get something to eat. Ichigo excused herself, and came back with a whole lot of food. So much so that Hiro was worrying if she could carry it all. She could, and not another moment was wasted after she set the tray down. Hiro and Zero Two began devouring basically all they came into contact with. After several consecutive minutes of non-stop eating, the two paused and relaxed, finally feeling their stomachs full.

"How was it?" asked Ichigo, who was astonished at the speed the two had finished it all at.

"Good," the two replied simultaneously. They might come back more for later, assuming the others hadn't started lunch by then. Teary reunions could wait for food, too!

Goro, wondering where Ichigo was, walked into the room, and Hiro stood up to hug him. The blonde-haired man chuckled. "It's good to see you too, bro," he said, tears welling in his eyes.

"You have no idea how much you've encouraged me, in everything I've done, Goro, so I think you'll appreciate this," Hiro said, leaning down to whisper something in his ear.

Said man's ears and cheeks turned bright red, whispering-not-so-loudly, "Really?! I never thought I'd see the day…" Hiro turned to look at Zero Two, and the two glanced at Goro and Ichigo knowingly.

Goro cleared his throat, and returned to his original task. "So, the others all think you're gone - except for Mitsuru. He's doing his best to assuage them, over near where your body was, Zero Two, so I'd think we should give them a nice surprise, right?"

Hiro and Zero Two held each other's gaze for a second, then agreed to go meet their friends again. Squad 13 would finally be complete.

* * *

"Y-you idiots! You said you'd come - you said you'd come back!" Miku was on the ground, crouching in front of the sapling that had sprouted where Zero Two once stood. The pistil was bawling, and her stamen was faring not much better, though he was patting his partner on the back.

"I know, Miku. I know," Zorome said, the sadness he felt seeping into his words. "They couldn't just back out on their promise like that, could they?"

Mitsuru sighed. Being witness to Hiro and Zero Two's return, he felt little emotion besides pity for his friends here. Oh, how happy they'd be, knowing that their squad was complete again! Not everything was sunshine and rainbows, though, as the father realized his wife and daughter weren't taking the news so well, either. He rushed over to comfort them, letting both weep into his chest.

Naomi and Ikuno weren't faring any better, either. Both had broken down, Naomi more so, because she wouldn't ever see Zero Two, or Hiro again. Futoshi hadn't got the news yet, but most of the former parasites currently attending the grief session could tell how he'd react.

The crying continued on for a while, even after Goro had arrived and yelled at them to follow him. The group that decided to go with him had continued crying, despite wanting to believe their friends were okay, and the group that stayed had little hope.

Goro led the group into the small church they'd built in pre-memoriam to Hiro and Zero Two. It was kind of funny to him that to most of the parasites in their care, they'd see the two in the chapel built in their honor.

The blonde-haired stamen cleared his throat, and said, "You can come out now, guys."

His group was left perplexed. Who was he referring to?

Then they saw the blue and red horns, the black and pink hair.

Zorome kept on crying, as did Miku, but these tears were of a happier sort. The rest of the group Goro had brought surrounded the saviors of humanity, enveloping them in their arms. Hiro and Zero Two let their tears flow freely for the third time that day, and they could tell probably it wouldn't be the last. Both were surprised at the breadth of emotion they felt - something he thought wasn't possible at all, and something she thought would never happen. But their desire had overcome fate, and they had beaten eternity.

* * *

The rest of Squad 13 had insisted on a huge celebration for Hiro and Zero Two, a "Revival Day" of the Earth, on July 7th - the Saturday following their return.

With the way that Ichigo was directing everything, the pair fully believed she had planned all of this out _long_ before the two had even gotten close to VIRM. She coordinated and delegated with ease, surprising even Goro. _Guess she really can do anything she's passionate about, eh?_ He thought, leaning against a wall the night before the festival. He was waiting for Ichigo to come back and tell him if they'd managed to get the centerpiece of the day: the mech that'd empowered their friends.

"Hey! Goro! We got it!" Ichigo panted, running up to him. She shifted her voice to a whisper, uncertain if Hiro and Zero Two were awake - the pair had proved themselves more than capable of long-distance eavesdropping. "Strelizia's in the East Hangar, and maintenance crews 20-26 are working on it right now. It should be operational by tomorrow."

Goro smiled. "That mech… it's saved our asses more times than I can count. If it had a soul, I suppose it would be happy to stand amongst its comrades once again," he mused, staring off at nothing.

Ichigo waved her hand in front of his face, chastising him lightly for being "spacey," as she called it. Goro apologized, internally wondering where he'd be without her. She made to grab his hand discretely as they entered the barracks complex, but he looked in her direction, causing her to pull away.

"You ever wonder… what would've happened if they hadn't come back? What would we have done?" he asked, his gaze piercing. "How would we have gotten those crops to grow?"

The bluenette sighed softly. "Goro, I've told you time and time again to stop being so down. What matters isn't what could've happened, it's what did. Hiro and Zero Two are back, safe, and aren't planning on leaving again. So, stop worrying your cute head off," she said, turning away from her partner with a huff.

Goro was smirking at the back of her head. She thought he was cute, huh?

He realized they were coming up on their respective rooms, and began his evaluation of his day. _Helped out with the festival, check._ Ichigo turned to him and bid him good night. _Revised some maps, check_. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. _Got some points in with Ichigo - I hope - check_.

The former stamen went to bed with a huge smile on his face.

* * *

"Zorome, have some of Futoshi's bread, it's go~od!" Miku begged, as the two walked along the Bird Nest's main path. It really was good, and she knew that if someone else could convince him it was, he would have some. She didn't quite know why he had a problem trusting her - they'd known each other since forever, and had been partners for several years.

Zorome blinked. He'd been paying no attention to the girl beside him, favoring relaxing with his thoughts for a while. Thoughts of glory, his dream of teaching, and _Miku with her hair do_ \- no! Bad Zorome! It was wrong to think of your partner, someone who you trusted implicitly, and who you were certain reciprocated, in that way! He straightened his posture, giving her a questioning look. She motioned to the bread she was offering him, and he shrugged. _Guess a_ little _can't hurt, right_?

As he reached for the bread, Miku snatched it away. "Nope! If you want some, you've gotta give me a kiss on the cheek!" She was hoping her gambit would work - the idiot standing next to her hadn't exactly been subtle about _continuing to hold her hand, even after they'd left the main part of the festival! So lewd, he must repent!_

A stunned Mitsuru and Kokoro looked on from a distance as they saw the two arguing again. The two shared a knowing look, saying in unison, "They should get a room."

Zorome shrugged and kept walking. He wasn't really hungry, anyways. He still hadn't noticed he was holding Miku's hand, and ended up being stopped by her refusing to budge from her position. She was looking at him as if he'd killed her cat, not like he'd turned down some bread!

Wait.

 _Oh._ Zorome thought, before being slapped for the umpteenth time by Miku.

Mitsuru and Kokoro continued watching their friends in amusement as Miku chased Zorome back into the Bird Nest. Kokoro rolled her eyes, and Mitsuru chuckled. Maybe they'd get together one of these days.

Across the makeshift town, Hiro and Zero Two were having the time of their lives. Wonderful company, food, and their friends! What more could they ask for? Well, Zero Two knew the _answer_ to that question, but it wasn't exactly appropriate for her to just jump him in public like this. He'd been slow, lately, savoring her. She was fine with it - she understood why he was doing it, she just wanted him to well, want her _more_. Her body had begun aching for him lately, even his touch sent her nerves reeling.

Hiro lightly tapped her on the shoulder, wondering why she was distant all of a sudden. He wasn't expecting her to yelp and blush hard in response, but his honey had been surprising him a lot lately. Good surprises, not firing-him-out-of-a-mech-with-no-way-of-seeing-him-again surprises. She was even more open than before, she was certainly - god, what was the word? - hornier than before - in both ways - and she was much more social in public. Of course, being heralded as heroes and respected by literally everyone you came across helped with her self-hate problem, something she hadn't even had an issue with ever since that first breakdown where she claimed she'd turned him into a monster, removing his "humanity" forever.

He'd shut down that train of thought by "kissing" their horns. It'd become a favorite activity of his, as much as the cuddling and other physical contact had. But there was something more to it - other couples could cuddle, could kiss, hold hands, all the works. But only him and his honey could touch their horns. It was the best declaration of their love and trust he thought they could ever do, and it felt surprisingly good. Perhaps the ancient klaxo sapiens did something similar, and the instinct passed down? Hiro supposed he'd never really quite know.

Now it was Zero Two's turn to bring him back to reality, grabbing his hand again. "We've really got to stop spacing out so often, darling," she said, earning a laugh from Hiro. The two continued walking, stopping every now and again to talk to a particularly thankful parasite or to head over to a booth. The festival had plenty to offer - food, games, alcohol. Neither of the hybrids were sure how Ichigo had managed to get food and alcohol ready a week after their crops had started growing properly, but nothing really seemed impossible anymore. Not since they went through a magic portal to fight purple aliens.

Hiro and Zero Two savored being able to laugh at the absurdity of the now-extinct VIRM. If they'd learned one thing since meeting again at that lake almost three years ago, it was that life was precious, and that you should spend every moment possible happy. It'd taken the two of them far too long to realize that - they'd missed out on so many potential opportunities! But, all of that was open to them. The world, _their_ world, was laid out before them like a set meal, and both planned on digging in.

The couple paused behind a crowd of people lining the center path. It seemed that something was going on. Both Hiro and Zero Two jumped slightly at the blaring of horns, announcing the start of the parade. The pink-haired girl looked up at her darling, asking, "How in the hell did Ichigo have time to plan _this_? Floats, music, and is that - _Strelizia_? It came back, too?"

Hiro narrowed his eyes at the mech. "Could've sworn it dissolved after I exited it, but I wasn't really focused on that then. I guess Ichigo's been busy."

"I have," a familiar pistil's voice sounded behind them.

Ichigo was smiling, happy that her friends were appreciative of her work, and happy that the parade was turning out well. "I had two years to prepare something, what'd you think it would be? One cake? Maybe some sprinklers?" She chuckled.

Hiro and Zero Two rolled their eyes, favoring focusing on the parade rather than Ichigo's admittedly welcome teasing. "Strelizia, though? How'd you get that?" Zero Two asked.

Ichigo merely smiled. "Not telling," she stated nonchalantly. Zero Two, realizing prying could get them no further, gave up on getting an answer.

Goro eventually caught up to them, and the quartet enjoyed basking in the radiance of a reborn world without a single bother.

* * *

Ikuno had requested Hiro and Zero Two's presence a few days after the festival. She apparently needed them for her "research," and the two were reluctant to go after remembering what Dr. Franxx did to both of them.

Ikuno had assured them that it was nothing of the sort, and the two now found themselves in her study, waiting for her to finish writing something down.

She stood up, and came over to them with two needles. "I'm going to need some of your blood. Is that OK?" she asked, waiting for a response. Both hybrids nodded their consent. Ikuno got Hiro's first, then Zero Two's. She was impressed at the regeneration rate on both their skin tissue - by the time she'd finished basic analysis of their blood, no trace remained of the puncturing.

"So, Hiro, I'm sure you already know, but you've got AB Rh negative, which is probably why your body accepted Zero Two's blood so readily," she nodded at the man in question, who looked over at Zero Two, as if to prove a point. The girl huffed and waited for Ikuno to continue.

"Zero Two, you're O Rh negative." The pink-haired girl nodded. "But, this wasn't a mere blood test," Ikuno said, and before pausing dramatically, continued with, "I wanted to see if I could synthesize a cure for parasites' rapid aging using your blood, and I think I can if given time. Would that be alright?" Ikuno didn't feel morally right using her friends' blood for this without their permission, even if it was a noble cause.

"Of course," Zero Two replied, smiling. "I'd do anything for my family."

Hiro nodded his agreement, and Ikuno bade them farewell, needing concentration for her now much faster research.

A few minutes later, Naomi came in, and sat down by her girlfriend's side.

"Did Hiro and Zero Two just leave?" she asked.

Ikuno chuckled and nodded. Naomi sighed in response - she'd been trying to see them for the past week, but they'd always been busy. Or she'd been busy. Schedules were always a mess, now. So much to do, all the damn time!

Naomi turned her attention back to Ikuno. "How's the research?" she asked.

"It's very well. With Hiro and Zero Two's blood, I think I can get a cure out in a few months, not a few years, as I'd originally expected," she said, smiling. "Of course, this also means that I can shift to writing a document chronicling Squad 13 and the War for Humanity after I'm done, instead of just lazing around."

Naomi smiled at her enthusiasm. "Whatever you say, dear. Whatever you say."

* * *

After Hiro and Zero Two were back for a few more weeks, Ichigo felt confident enough to begin the construction of a new governmental body and building. She hadn't worked out the constitution yet, but Mitsuru was working his hardest on designing the so-called "Grand Palace" for the new seat of human government. Hachi and Nana had managed to dig up some old books on governments and rights, and Mitsuru had found a "Frank L. Wright's" journal, along with some books on Greco-Roman design. She didn't know who that man was, but Mitsuru seemed excited, and she was happy for him. He had his dream job, with a wife and daughter. Speaking of, Kokoro was expecting again. The husband and wife had broken the news to the rest of their close friends the night before, with Zero Two in particular looking longingly at her darling, who was congratulating the other couple.

Ichigo really wondered if the two had done _it_ yet. Based on how tightly wound Zero Two was, and how she'd come to Ichigo for advice on how to get Hiro to make a move, she could assume "no." She supposed it might've been because of how Zero Two said she couldn't leave anything behind, but she knew that wouldn't stop Hiro from trying, at least. She really didn't know why they hadn't - both had recently came back from death - or close to it - and both had come back _for each other_. To deny the other physically was plain stupid, unless Hiro had another reason. Ichigo couldn't think of any, so she decided she'd ask him.

The bluenette set off for him, and found him in the under-construction lobby of the Palace. He was shouting encouragements while simultaneously spotting Mitsuru, who was up on some scaffolding working on the little details. The horned man heard Ichigo coming, and without breaking focus on his other friend, greeted her.

"Good afternoon, Ichigo," he yelled, continuing his focus on Mitsuru.

"Good afternoon, Hiro," she replied. "You sure you can catch him if he falls?"

Hiro grinned, as if anticipating the question. "Positive. I'm pretty strong now, you know."

Ichigo waited a moment as Mitsuru finished what he was working on, before climbing back down to look at his handiwork.

"What do you two think?" he asked wearily. Clearly he'd been working for a while, now.

Hiro told him it was great, and Ichigo agreed, telling the architect to take a break, which he ever-so-humbly accepted.

After he'd left, Ichigo turned to Hiro. "So, about Zero Two…"

Hiro straightened a bit, his gaze narrowing. "What about her?"

The pistil sighed. Was she coming off as jealous again? "What's going on with you two? Both of you seem a bit more distant than before."

It was Hiro's turn to sigh. "I don't know, Ichigo. She wants me, physically, so much more than she used to. But I'm worried that I'm not enough. That she'll be disappointed in me, and that she'll grow to hate me." His gaze was cold, locked on a point on the clean, smooth marble floor.

Mitsuru popped his head in before Hiro could continue. "Bro, I thought the same thing about Kokoro, trust me, but I'm going to be the father of two in like, eight months. Just go for it!" He shot Hiro a thumbs up and wink before disappearing back to his break.

Ichigo blinked. "While I don't appreciate the interruption, he has a point. Zero Two is wholly in love with you, for your heart, mind, and soul. Of course, she does think your body is nice. Told me so herself," she paused, noticing a light blush on Hiro. "At this point, there's no way you could disappoint her. So, man up a little! Be confident in yourself, because at this point you're hurting her more by not doing _that_ than by actually doing it!" Ichigo almost yelled, but she stopped herself. "Be happy together, and that's an order from your commander."

Hiro's eyes regained their warmth, and he said, grinning, "Well, can't disobey a direct order, can I?" The man set off on a mission, determined to give his honey just what she wanted.

Mitsuru came back in, eating the bento Kokoro had made for him. "So, he's really gonna do it?"

Ichigo shook her head, giggling. "I suppose so. Well… we'll know by tonight."

Mitsuru looked at her, confused. "Know what?"

The pistil smirked. "Know if we need better walls."

Mitsuru glanced at her, eyes deadpan. He walked back to his cubby, still working on that bento.

"Hey, my jokes aren't that bad!" Ichigo called after him.

* * *

Hiro walked back to the quarters he and Zero Two shared with a purpose. How had he put so little faith in himself, and in Zero Two? They were together now, and he hoped that that would remain true for a while to come. What he was going to do now was a small step in their relationship, but a serious one nonetheless. How could he have treated it so lightly?

He came up on their door, and paused before knocking. Was this really a good idea? Ichigo and Mitsuru had told him to go for it, and it seemed like Ichigo knew a little more than she was letting on, as if Zero Two put her up to it. Hiro shrugged, deciding not much else could be worse than him delaying this further. He slowly opened the door…

… and found Zero Two sitting on the bed, in nothing but some red lingerie.

Had she been waiting for him?

"Darling..." she beckoned to him, causing an already flustered Hiro to heat up even more.

He came closer to her, eyes wandering. "Really? Did Ichigo give you that number?"

She smiled. "Yep! Said she'd found some with Franxx's stuff, the old pervert."

Hiro was slightly unnerved that the old man had lingerie that fit Zero Two perfectly in his possession, but he wasn't one to complain right now.

"Oh, before you get worried, he specifically made it for us to use," she added, smiling. Hiro mentally thanked the doctor before leaning in to give his honey a kiss.

Before his lips made contact, she put a finger on them, tutting. "Nope. You've made me wait this long, so you get to wait too!"

Hiro closed his eyes. _So this is my punishment_ , he thought. His honey had been waiting for him, so he would do the same.

He gently sat down on the ground in front of her, looking at nothing in particular.

A momentary silence followed, before Zero Two began stifling a laugh.

Hiro locked eyes with her. "What? What's funny?" he inquired, bringing her to laugh even more.

"Nothing, just your - your face! You're blushing, and yet you're so calm! It's funny!" she exclaimed, rolling back on the bed in laughter.

Hiro did his best impression of her pout, and stood up. "You're asking for a tickle, you know."

She crossed her arms over her chest and answered in mock anger, "You wouldn't dare!"

Hiro got on the bed, positioning himself over her. "You think so?" he asked, before starting to tickle her.

She laughed her beautiful laugh, getting her darling to chuckle as she tried to break free of his clutches.

"Da-darling! Sto-stop it!" she said, getting Hiro to stop his assault and pull back.

"Oh? I bet you loved that, though..." Hiro singsonged, causing Zero Two to cover her face.

"You're so mean, darling," she smiled. "But I know a way you can make it up to me."

He leaned in further. "Oh, really?"

"Yes."

The two began kissing each other with a fervor neither had felt before. Zero Two, feeling alone in her semi-nudity, responded by removing his own uniform. She was greeted by his toned chest. He would never develop a "rock-hard six pack," but she didn't care. She loved how her darling looked.

After making sure the door was locked - sure would be a pain to have Zorome come in right about now - they continued, their lips locking. During this second makeout session, their horns accidentally touched, and both got a rush of blood to the… well, you know.

"I didn't know they became erogenous zones," Zero Two panted.

"Oh, so you've been reading up on this?" Hiro teased.

"Your fault for making me wait so long," she countered.

"You're no fair, honey," he laughed, getting back into their wonderful session.

After a few more minutes of this, both found the pressure in their core unable to be pushed back. They removed their last vestiges of doubts about what they were doing, tossing them carelessly at the foot of the bed. Hiro pushed his honey below him, asking her a silent question.

She nodded, and felt a little pain. Hiro repositioned himself to make both of them more comfortable, before taking a moment to reflect...

 _So this is what the FranXX controls were designed after... the old man just keeps digging himself deeper_. Hiro thought, gazing at the girl splayed below him.

"Darling, are you going to do anything?" Zero Two panted, her want for him palpable in the air.

"Yeah, sorry."

Not much else coherent was said for a while.

* * *

The next morning, the sun woke her up. They'd spent, what, at least nine hours at it? Zero Two giggled a little. She never knew he was so good at all that! She'd definitely get addicted to this! Not just the sex, but waking up afterwards was so, so so so nice! How had she managed for this long? She ran a finger across her sleeping darling's face, and kissed his forehead.

He stirred. "Mm?" he mumbled, sitting up a little. "Hey, my beautiful honey."

She was also impressed at his ability to talk like that so effortlessly. "Hey. You were wonderful, darling."

He smiled. "And don't think you weren't, honey." His eyes wandered to the sheets, before he started asking her, "Hey, honey, I think I want to…"

He trailed off. What was he going to say? "Darling?" she inquired, genuine curiosity in her voice.

He cleared his throat, and tried again. "I think I want to marry you. Properly, this time. Will you marry me, Zero Two?"

Another thing she loved about her darling was his impeccable ability to wring out any emotion - except maybe anger - at any given point in time.

Her eyes went wide, before her brain reset itself. "Of - of course!" She beamed at him, that smile being the last thing he could ever see, and he wouldn't care.

A knock on the door startled both of them, and they could hear Ichigo's voice carrying through the metal. "Hey, could you maybe be a bit quieter next time?"

Several other voices, ones they recognized as their squadmates, added their agreements.

Both hybrids' eyes widened. _Uh oh._

Zero Two was so embarrassed right now, she could die! Not that she wanted to, but she could! She hid her face under the covers - as if it would do anything - drawing a laugh from her darling.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll try," he said, joining her under the covers. He silently kissed her left ring finger, and she sighed.

Everything was perfect.

* * *

PS: Sorry if that was little anticlimactic (hah). I want to keep things relatively tame to fit FF's regulations :)

If anything seemed stilted, or otherwise strange, let me know. I'm working on this as I'm doing lots of mentally stressful activities during the day, so I've been writing these at night. After this Sunday, though, I'll be totally free, and hopefully my quality will have gone back up (if you perceived a dip.) Until next time!

Yours, dsw78


	3. Flames

A/N: Thanks to Code 118/Ambient_Riot for beta-ing this chapter. Please go check out Two in One, it's wonderful. Glad to hear you all are still having fun with this story!

* * *

Hiro and his fiancée laid on the bed for another few hours, before the rumbling of their stomachs made them get up.

Having slept in much, much later than most of their fellow parasites, they entered the cafeteria to find it empty. All the better for them, as it meant some more time to themselves. Ichigo had also been kind enough to leave out some food for them, ensuring they wouldn't be hungry for long.

The two chatted as they ate, discussing trivial matters and the status of the bet pool on Miku and Zorome.

"Ichigo says it'll happen in a few weeks," Hiro mumbled, drinking some water.

"I don't know," Zero Two said, "I think more like a month or two."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "They might just need a little push."

His honey hummed in agreement. A moment passed before she sighed. "I wonder what happened to your old partner. Naomi, was it?"

Hiro looked at the wall beside him. "Everyone says they put her in cold storage with lots of other parasites. Only recently took them out," he continued, quieter this time, "I feel terrible for my failure. Putting her through all that... it was my fault."

"I don't think so. It wasn't you who made her pilot with you, it was APE, right?" Hiro nodded, and Zero Two smiled softly. "Good, so then don't blame yourself."

Hiro shook his head. "I don't know, honey, I just can't shake the feeling that I did something wrong, you know?"

"I know, darling. Trust me, I know." Zero Two whispered, her eyes fixated on a spot on the table.

An uncomfortable silence settled around them, the guilt, theirs or not, weighing heavy on the hybrids' shoulders.

The cafeteria door slid open, startling both of them. The woman in the doorway's expression calm, yet studious.

"Naomi?" Zero Two asked.

The woman smiled. "Yeah, that's me. I came to see both of you. I've been trying for weeks," she said, sitting down across from them. "So, you two saved the world, right?"

Hiro looked at her. "I suppose so, though I have faith you all could've managed without us."

"Sure, but it'll be nice to have closure," Naomi said, taking a deep breath, "Hiro, did you know that you couldn't pilot with anyone besides her?" She gestured at Zero Two.

"No. At the time, I didn't even remember her. I'm sorry, Nao-" he was cut off by Naomi laughing.

She paused, smiling. "There's no need for an apology, then. Have a good day, and nice to meet you, Zero Two." The pistil got up and left both of them in silence.

Zero Two looked at her darling, and laced their fingers. "See? Even she doesn't blame you, so don't feel bad."

Hiro smiled at her touch. "It doesn't stop the nightmares, though-"

"-it does make them easier to bear," Zero Two finished. "You make my nightmares easier to bear, darling. Don't forget that, please. Don't forget I need you."

"And I you, Zero Two. We promised, right?"

She kissed him. "We promised."

Their moment was ruined by the sound of alarms blaring throughout the whole facility.

* * *

Ichigo was rushing the parasites to their hangars, Nana and Hachi having notified her that a mass of klaxosaurs was coming, and fast.

She wasn't even sure if they had any magma energy left, but it was worth a try if it saved their asses, right?

"Ichigo, what the hell is happening?" Zorome asked. Most of Squad 13 had appeared before her, minus Mitsuru and Kokoro, who were staying with Ai, and Ikuno, who couldn't pilot anymore.

"I don't know! The klaxosaur alarm got sounded, so I rushed everyone here!" she paused, regaining her breath. "Get your FranXX running, if you can! Futoshi, stay behind and give us ETA updates. I'm counting on all of you."

All present members of the squad saluted and ran off to their FranXX, but she stopped Hiro and Zero Two.

"You two especially, be careful. We just got you back, we can't lose you again!" she yelled, causing the couple to give her a thumbs up.

"So bossy..." Zero Two said, "But I like that about you. You can count on us." She and Hiro ran off to attempt to start Strelizia, while Ichigo went off to Delphinium.

She ran up to the mech. "Goro, how's she looking?"

He frowned. "Not good. Seems all the magma's been drained. All the other FranXX seem to have the same issue."

Strelizia flew past them. "Well, not all," Goro amended.

The red-and-white mech had been the only one to make it out of the hangar, and the rest of the parasites watched as the klaxosaurs approached. Strelizia had stopped, and was maintaining its neutral stance.

"What are they doing?" Goro hissed.

Ichigo shook her head. "I don't know."

Hiro and Zero Two had sensed something, and stopped the mech before it broke the klaxosaurs' ranks.

"You've got a minute before they're too close," Futoshi told them, sighing. "I think you should head back."

"No," Hiro said, "There's something here. Honey, you feel it too? That... tingling, almost."

Strelizia nodded. "Yeah. Should we go closer?"

"No," Hiro said. "Let them come to us."

The klaxosaurs approached, and Hiro started making out different classes within the horde.

"A few Gutenbergs, mostly Moho. Nothing too special, so... why is something off?" Hiro whispered to himself.

Strelizia readied her spear. "I'm not expecting anything, darling, but better to be prepared," she said.

He murmured in agreement, as the beasts got ever closer.

"They're on you," Futoshi said.

Suddenly, they stopped, and one older-looking klaxosaur moved to the front. It began to screech.

"Words..." Hiro found his mind once again violated by another presence.

 _Children of ours_ , he heard, _listen well. The war for Earth is over, so we shall rest after this last act._

Strelizia brought her spear out again. "What last act?" she asked.

The klaxosaur laughed? Then it said, _Nothing bad. Do not worry. We just need to tell you something._

The klaxosaur moved slowly, as if walking, to them. "Darling, what's happening?" Strelizia asked, the possible danger making the mech tense.

Hiro was thinking. What could the klaxosaurs tell them, and why them?

The klaxosaur stopped at the mech's feet. Here, kneel.

"Darling? What should we do?"

Hiro looked up in realization. "As it asks."

Strelizia knelt, and the klaxosaur pressed its frontal horns to Strelizia's lone horn Hiro saw a vision of what he remembered as Europe, several plantations, and a man, speaking to many people. A moment passed, and the klaxosaur removed its horns. _Be wary, children. Look out for those who desire purity._

The klaxosaur turned and joined its pack, before the whole unit sped off.

Strelizia and Hiro were confused. What had it meant by " _desiring purity?_ " VIRM? But they were de-

The klaxosaur shrieked out its answer, reading their minds. _Something like them, yes. But a bit more… human._

Hiro figured he'd discuss this with Squad 13 later, in a more comfortable place. His honey agreed, and the mech returned to the Bird Nest.

* * *

Strelizia entered its port, and the pilots got out.

Ichigo could immediately tell something was off. Both Hiro and Zero Two were visibly distraught, and had a death grip on each other's hand. "Guys, what happened? Are you hurt?" the bluenette asked, concern racking her face.

Zero Two looked at her, eyes distant. "We're fine. Follow us," she stated, walking towards the command center with Hiro.

"Guess we should follow them," Ichigo said, and the rest of Squad 13 followed behind her.

Once they'd arrived at the command center, Hiro asked Ichigo to get Ikuno and Naomi. Once both women had come, Hiro closed and locked the door.

He leaned over the main table and cleared his throat. "Zero Two and I have reason to believe a faction of APE-loyal parasites is still active in Europe," he said, looking for any response.

Goro was the first to speak up. "How? APE and VIRM are destroyed."

Hiro nodded. "Their ideology remains ingrained in some. Those fortunate enough to not lose any to VIRM - they exist. If we are to reclaim the world and restore humanity, we must stop them."

Ichigo thought for a moment. "We… don't have any order here yet. I promise you, eventually, we can beat them together - just after things settle here," she clarified, looking at Hiro and Zero Two.

Both nodded, and Ichigo dismissed the conference. The squadmates returned to their changing rooms, but Goro stopped Ichigo before she could follow.

"You have to let me go to Europe on recon. We won't know the extent of these parasites otherwise," he said, staring her in the eyes.

She looked at him as if he were suggesting he kill himself. "What?! There's no way, Goro," she pleaded, "Stay. That's an order."

He frowned. "Since when do you have any power over me? Since a non-existent organization told you you did? Let me do what I think is best," he growled, teeth clenched.

He stormed out of the room, and Ichigo followed closely on his heels. She caught up to him as he was entering the stamen changing room, wrapping her arms around him to stop any movement.

"Goro! Listen to me! You can't go!" She yelled, the man in question attempting to pull away, "Please! I… I love you!"

For a moment, the only noise in the area was the sound of the ventilation.

Then Zero Two whistled from inside the locker room.

"You go, girl!" she congratulated, bringing the bluenette's cheeks to heat up, and making Goro not fare much better.

He was staring at her incredulously, mouth agape. Hiro had said she liked him that way, but… having her actually tell him that? It was a dream come true. He laughed, finally returning her hug. "You have no idea how long I've waited to hear that from you," he breathed, resting his chin on her head.

The rest of Squad 13 looked on from their locker rooms, with Hiro and Zero Two smiling especially bright.

Zorome smirked. "Took you long enough, guys! I swear, they've been dancing around each other for years…" he trailed off, as his fellow stamen began staring at him intently. "What?"

Goro made to speak, but Hiro shushed him before he could say anything. Zorome and Miku… they could figure out that themselves. Or at least, under the pretense of doing so. Hiro had a feeling he might need to give them an extra push.

"Alright, we'll let you two get back to it," Hiro said, motioning with his head for everyone to return to the rooms and finish changing.

Once the two were alone in the hall again, Ichigo sighed. "If I can't stop you from going, can I at least make you stay a little longer?" She asked, gazing up at him.

"Sure," Goro agreed, "I won't leave immediately." He leaned down, and kissed the bluenette, causing her cheeks to get a little closer to that strawberry red.

* * *

Ichigo was able to finalize the plans for the new human government much quicker than she'd anticipated, due to a new burst of "motivation." Hiro supposed that three years ago, he would've never guessed Goro could be referred to in such a manner. Things were surprising nowadays, but he was content with that, for now.

After Mitsuru finished his work on the Grand Palace, Ichigo had immediately began the inaugural process for the new government, the Earth Federation. All of the parasites thought saying their government was for the whole planet was a little presumptuous, but who was out there to stop them?

Actually, that was why Hiro was standing outside the main hall of the Grand Palace. Himself, Zero Two, and Ichigo had decided to break the news to the other parasites of the threat to their peace. They'd found records of it in old APE terminals some more tech-savvy parasites had gotten into - Edelweiss, one of APE's backup plantations in Europe. They never had any contact with the Japanese branch of the organization, and as such, Hiro knew they probably were still in-the-dark about VIRM and APE's misdeeds.

Zero Two was standing outside with her darling, quite nervous presenting in front of a crowd. Hiro was a natural at it - he'd proven himself several times already - but she couldn't get over her fears that people still wouldn't accept her.

She looked at him expectantly, and he squeezed her hand. They could accomplish this together, like they always had.

They heard Ichigo calling them on stage, and out they went. Their friend had prepared an area for them to sit at, so that they could begin their talk with ease. People in the audience were incredibly excited to see them, the memories of Earth's salvation fresh in their minds.

The couple sat down, and Ichigo gave a brief explanation as to why they were all here, before passing the mic to Hiro and Zero Two.

Hiro spoke first. "Three weeks ago, the Bird Nest's perimeter was breached by a mass of klaxosaurs. They were peaceful in intent, seeking only to warn us about the dangers of what we now believe is an APE-aligned plantation, or group of plantations, in Europe," he explained, drawing some gasps from the audience. He nodded to Zero Two.

She cleared her throat, speaking clearly. "These plantations present a threat to our planned repopulation of the Earth, as they are most certainly aligned against our more individualistic beliefs and practices. If we are to reclaim this planet completely, they must be stopped," Zero Two finished, before asking if the audience had any questions.

A couple hands went up, leading to basic questions. How are we going to do this, do we have any extra information at the time, et cetera. Then a hand towards the back went up.

"How do we know this isn't a ploy by the klaxosaurs for us to move our military forces away, then for them to finish us off?" the parasite asked, distrust apparent in the way he talked. A murmur went over the crowd, many people agreeing, some disagreeing, and others remaining silent.

Hiro sighed. "We don't know that, but we can assume that based off our current peace with the klaxosaurs, and based off what we know about APE's backup plantations, what the klaxosaurs told us was true, and that we should be worried about this," he said, many people in the audience nodding.

The parasite gave the mic to the next asker, and whispered to himself, "Of course _they'd_ say that those monsters wouldn't be tricking us."

Hiro's ears twitched, and he knew Zero Two had heard the man say it, too. Immediately, he went into damage control mode, grabbing her hand under the table and squeezing it.

The rest of the session went by without incident, with many other basic questions being asked. The mood, however, was totally off-kilter. Zero Two was agitated, Hiro knew, and he honestly wasn't faring much better. Did people really think of them that way, as listening to "monsters?"

When the session ended, his honey rushed to the bathroom, emptying the small breakfast she had. She… she thought that people had moved on from this, but now she knew they hadn't. People were still just as unaccepting as before their mission. Her darling patted her back, doing his best to reassure her.

But in that moment, back in the hall, she knew he'd experienced the feeling of being thought of as a monster for the first time.

* * *

Ikuno's research was progressing smoothly, mostly thanks to Hiro and Zero Two's blood. Its properties were astonishing - regeneration, it stopped the adverse side effects of yellow blood cells on any sort of human body, and it… it could infect other blood and replace it.

So _that_ was how Hiro had changed. Ikuno made a note in her calendar to discuss this further with both hybrids, seeing as she now knew exactly how Hiro had saurified.

"Bloodbonding… I'll have to research this further," Ikuno murmured under her breath.

As the scientist got back to work, her dutiful partner - in work and in life - walked in behind her, pulling up a chair to sit in.

"What are you working on?" Naomi asked, taking Ikuno's free hand and connecting it with her own.

Ikuno looked up, saying, "Still the cure for yellow blood cells. I've found some new developments with Hiro and Zero Two's blood, though."

Naomi tilted her head. "Oh?"

Ikuno nodded. "Yeah, could you get Zero Two in here? I need to check something," she said, getting back to writing.

"Alright. I'll be right back."

Depending on the information she got from Ichigo in regards to the hybrids' more recent activities… she may have the chance to research bloodbonding firsthand.

Naomi came back with Zero Two in tow. The pink-haired girl looked a bit displeased, but was otherwise looking fine. "What do you need? I was relaxing with my darling," she said.

Ikuno stood up, and moved towards her research bed. She motioned for Zero Two to come over and lie down on the bed, and Zero Two complied. "So, I've found some more interesting things with regards to your blood. Wanna hear them?" Ikuno asked.

Zero Two furrowed her eyebrows. "Why did you need me to lie down for this?"

Ikuno waved her away. "That comes later. Do you want me to tell you some insights I've obtained?"

Zero Two sighed. "Sure, but keep it quick. I want to get back to my darling," she pouted, before Ikuno began her explanation. As she was going, Zero Two's eyes widened as things began falling into place.

"So… we're for sure certain that it was my blood that made him saurify?" she asked, eyes begging for confirmation.

"If this is about you feeling guilty for that again, _he_ licked your knee," Naomi called from across the room.

Ikuno pointed to her girlfriend. "Exactly, Zero Two. But yes, it was definitely his ingestion of your blood that began the saurification process. What we don't know is why it took so long - was it not riding with you? I wish we had another test subject to see if it worked short-term…" Ikuno trailed off, searching her memories. Was there another klaxosapiens around? _Would_ there be, she corrected herself. She'd yet to do what she brought Zero Two here for.

"Um, I think one of my clones is still alive. My darling didn't bring her to Mars with him," Zero Two confirmed, bringing Ikuno to remember.

"Ah, yes. 9'ζ. She left late last year, still barely clinging on to life. I wonder where she is now…" Ikuno stopped herself from going off on a tangent again, returning to her original purpose. "So, Zero Two, how have you been feeling lately?"

The woman in question took some time before responding. "Fine, mostly. Why?"

Ikuno didn't respond to her question. "Why do you say mostly?" The scientist asked.

"Well…" Zero Two began, "I've been having stomach problems lately. Can't seem to keep any breakfast down, although lunch and dinner are fine."

Ikuno nodded, writing a note. "How are you emotionally? Things good with Hiro and all that?"

Zero Two's eyes lit up at the mention of her relationship with her darling. "Never better!" She exclaimed. "It's been good, not being in mortal danger constantly. Really lets you wind down, you know," she added, giggling a little. 'Winding down' was _not_ what she and her darling had been doing lately. If anything… well, she wouldn't go into her sex life with Ikuno. Unless…

"Have you two copulated?" Ikuno asked.

Speak of the devil, Zero Two thought. She might as well be truthful, then. "Uh… yeah. We did, quite a lot, the other night, and the night before, and..." she trailed off, memories flooding back. _Mating with my darling, hahaha~..._

"Zero Two? You're drooling," Ikuno called, snapping the hybrid back to reality.

"Sorry, just thinking about what we could be doing right now, if I weren't on this damn bed!" She joked, causing Ikuno to smile.

"I don't think you should be doing any more of that, but I'd like to get one test in if you'll let me," Ikuno said, preparing one of APE's old ultrasound machines.

"Okay, but make it quick," Zero Two said. _Not mating with my darling? Is this woman crazy?_

Ikuno did her best to do exactly that, and her eyes widened when she looked at her monitor. She asked Zero Two to sit up, preparing her for the news.

Ikuno took her glasses off and looked Zero Two directly in the eyes, tilting the monitor towards her.

The pink haired girl was confused for a moment as to what she was seeing, before realization lit up her face. Tears came to her eyes, the raw emotion from what she was seeing overwhelming her.

Ikuno smiled, standing Zero Two up. "I think you've got something to tell Hiro, so get going."

Zero Two ran off into the hall, tears, a big, dumb smile, and the setting midsummer sun lighting up her features.

* * *

The bakery's door closed, and Futoshi exhaled. Seemed like every day now, there was another set of new people just clamoring to get his bread! If he'd known he was this good at baking before, he would've baked before!

Luckily, the day was coming to an end. Today was quite busy, and there was still a backlog of orders to be filled. Futoshi made a mental note to himself to hire an assistant, or at least begin looking into hiring one, relatively soon. The way things were going, he'd need it.

While he was working on some more bread, the door opened one last time. "You can sit down for a bit here, I'm unable to take your order right now," he called, causing the person who just came in to laugh.

"I'm not here to overwork you, don't worry," the voice, Futoshi recognizing as higher-pitched, said. "I'm actually here to see if you have any positions open. I love your food, and wanted to see if I could help make some of it."

Futoshi turned towards the person, looking her - he knew from her appearance now - up and down. She was shorter than him, though not by much, and had short brown hair clipped to her neck. She stuttered, realizing he was looking at her. "M-my name's Nimina. Nice to meet you!"

Futoshi smiled. "I'd shake your hand if I could, although I'm a little preoccupied right now," he chuckled. "My name's Futoshi."

"I know," Nimina said, "it's on the sign outside."

"But, of course! How else would you know which bread shop it is? It's not like there's an abundance of them, or anything," he joked, bringing the girl in front of him to laugh a little.

Futoshi cleared his throat, picking up the tray of bread he just finished. "Seeing as I'm now done for the day, would you like an interview? I've got nothing else to do," he clarified, sitting down behind the counter.

Nimina sat at the bar in front of him. "Sure, fire away," she consented.

"What experience do you have with baking?" he began.

"I've been working as my squad's personal chef ever since APE fell, and they say I'm alright," she responded.

Futoshi considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Sounds good, you're on," he said.

Nimina was taken aback. "It was that easy?!"

Futoshi shrugged. "I've got way too many orders and you're the first qualified person to walk in here and apply, so why not? Let's get this last order out, and then we can discuss your pay."

The girl in front of him readjusted herself, then nodded, offering her hand. "I'm looking forward to working with you, Futoshi."

He smiled, and shook her hand. "Me too, Nimina."

* * *

Zorome and Miku were sitting on a bench in the recently-constructed park on the hill where Zero Two's revival tree was standing. Both of them had found their other squadmates too busy to do anything, and had begrudgingly decided to come here together.

It was late, around nineteen-hundred hours, and the sun was very pretty. "It's really beautiful, right now, you know?" The redhead said, looking at her partner.

He was staring very intently at the sun. "What do you think about Hiro and Zero Two?" he asked.

Miku was confused. "Where's this coming from, Zorome?"

"At the meeting earlier… that one guy, in the back. I was sitting near him, and he… he insulted them. Called them monsters. Can you believe that?" Zorome said, impassioned. How _dare_ that man insult his friends?

Miku was astonished. "Really? That's terrible," she said, joining Zorome in his thousand-yard-stare. "You'd think they'd have more respect for the people who saved them, more than they could ever know."

"So did I. I guess we really didn't know these people as well as we thought," he said, looking over at her. "Anyways, how was your day?"

Miku was even more confused. "Why are you changing topics all of a sudden?" She countered, looking back at him.

Zorome shrugged. "We don't need to be talking about one specific thing, y'know. We can just be _talking_."

"Fair enough," Miku said. "What can we talk about? I mean, without getting mad at each other. Seems like we do that a lot…"

"Um…" Zorome thought, "How about what we want to do besides FranXX piloting? Ikuno's almost done with her cure, so we'll have _a lot_ of time on our hands," he paused. "I'm thinking about getting into education - as more and more kids are being made, we'll have a need for teachers."

Miku's eyes lit up. "Really? Same here! I'd love to teach kids," she exclaimed, her enthusiasm for her profession leaking into her voice.

Zorome grinned, pumping his fists in the air. "We'll be the dynamic teaching duo! Kids around the world will fear and respect us!"

Miku smiled wearily. "I wouldn't go _that_ far…I'd like to have a healthy relationship with my students. It's good for learning."

Zorome stared at her nonchalantly. "I mean, duh. What sort of good teacher _actually_ terrorizes their kids? I was just messing around," he explained, bringing Miku to a revelation.

"Wait, most of the time, when we're talking, are you messing with me?" she asked, eyes narrowing at him.

He sweated, moving a little bit away from her. "N-no, of course not! Some of the more… outlandish things aren't what I actually think, of course. I do it because it's fun to see you riled up, to see you impassioned," he said, "Even if it's because you're angry at me."

Miku was shocked. "So you'll purposefully make me angry because you like seeing me that way?" He nodded. "Have you ever considered that maybe _other things_ can get me like that?"

Zorome shook his head. "No, not really. I mean, we've always been at each other's throats. I guess I've found it easier to get you that way by making you angry, than by doing other things," he clarified, rubbing the back of his neck.

Miku sighed. "Well, keep that in mind, especially because you just saw me that way without making me angry," she said, turning back to the sunset, now a much brighter orange.

Zorome was staring, he knew, but the way the rays of sunlight framed her face and lit up her hair made her look like she had a halo. He was lucky, he supposed, to have an angel like her around. She kept him in check, kept him grounded, when he tried to fly too high.

Miku turned, the hairs on the back of her neck telling her that the man sitting next to her was staring. "What? Is there a spider there or something?"

Zorome returned to reality, blushing and looking away. "No, it's just... you looked really pretty," he mumbled, causing her to tilt her head.

"What? 'Just' what?" she asked.

"Just… it's nice to know that I can see you excited without being annoyed at me," he explained, looking at Miku from the corner of his eye.

"Zorome, you idiot," she chastised, "You've always been able to. You've just never tried."

"Oh? So, what makes you excited, Miku?" he smirked.

 _You._ Damn it, subconscious! Now was not the time! She stammered, racking her brain for an appropriate response. "Uh-uhm, let's see," she paused, "Teaching, accessories, and…" _You. Piloting Argentea together. Talking, like we are now._ "...hanging out with my friends." It was a true response, but an incomplete one.

Zorome smiled. "Me too, Miku, me too. Us - Squad 13? We're… we're family," he stated. Miku agreed softly, looking back at the sunset.

The two sat like that, in silence, for a while. Both wanting to say more, but unable to find the courage. The sun sat completely, its purpling colors fading to black.

The clear night sky was filled with stars, the Milky Way stretching far above them. The arm's orange radiance reminding Zorome of the girl sitting next to him.

"It's beautiful," he said, smiling softly. He even thought he could see Andromeda.

"Yep," she agreed. Words couldn't quite be used to describe the feelings they felt there, staring at the vastness of creation.

Zorome started. "Miku, look!" She turned. "Shooting stars!"

Miku smiled. "Those aren't meteors, Zorome," she corrected. "They're the last of the klaxosaur's fleet, returning to their home. Their fight is over."

Zorome looked at her. "They deserve their rest," he said.

"Yeah," she agreed.

That night, beneath the brilliance of space and the returning klaxosaurs, Zorome and Miku slept on the bench, her head resting gently on his shoulder.

* * *

Zero Two rushed to her darling, having left him in their room. She came up to the door, throwing it open, and found nothing in there. _Where is my darling?_

She decided to text him, pulling out her communicator. After a brief conversation, he told her he was at the hangar, overseeing the inspection of Strelizia.

By the time she'd made it to him, the inspection was over and he was sitting on the walkway connecting Strelizia's core to its port, dangling his legs over the side idly.

"Hey, honey!" He called. "How's it going?"

"I'm… fine! How are you?" She responded, coming up to where he was sitting.

"Better now that you're here. Seems like every moment without you is a little more empty," he said, flustering her.

"You're so suave, darling," she giggled. "You always know exactly what to say."

He laughed. "What can I say? You're cute when you're blushing."

"Darling!" She chided, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him a little. "Stop it!"

"Fine, fine," he agreed. "So, what did you want to talk about? You seemed pretty urgent earlier."

 _Oh._ She'd forgotten it momentarily. Only her darling could do that to her, distract her so much that she'd forget something so important!

How was she going to broach this? "Uh... let's just sit here, for a while. Is that fine?" She looked at him, expectantly.

"Fine by me. Take your time," he said, allowing her to reposition his head into her lap. They sat that way for a while, before Zero Two spoke up.

"Darling…" He looked up at her. "If I asked you to give up your status as a human, would you?"

He smiled. "I already have, and besides, humanity isn't based off appearances. You said that yourself, remember?"

She did say that. "It's been a while, my memories from back then are fuzzy. Warm fuzzy, but fuzzy still," she said, laughing a little at her phrasing. Right, back on track! "If I asked you to leave everything behind for me, would you?"

Her darling shifted his face to a more serious expression. "Without question. Why?"

Zero Two looked down at him intensely. "I just needed to know. Darling… promise me, again, we'll always be together."

"Of course. If we lose each other, you don't even need to say the word, and I'll be running back to find you," her darling assured her, "Just like I always have."

"I promise, too. I promise to never leave you again," she said, tears coming to her eyes, making her crimson pupils hazy.

"Hey, what's wrong? You alright?" He asked, grabbing her hand and sitting up.

She sniffled. "I'm fine. I'm fine, trust me," she said. A moment passed with their eyes and hands locked, before Zero Two composed herself. "I think I can tell you now, darling."

"Whenever you're ready," he said, "I can wait for as long as you need."

Zero Two smiled. He was always so attuned to what she needed, it really was like they were one-and-the-same. The horns protruding from his forehead, the blue marks around his eyes, and the deep blue pupils in eyes so very much like her own only further supported that point. She breathed deeply, squeezing his hand for support.

"I visited Ikuno today, you remember." He nodded. "I got absolute confirmation that you ingesting some of my blood was what started your saurification."

"Alright, did she tell you anything else?" Her darling asked, his head tilting inquisitively.

"Yes, that 9'ζ might still be alive. Ikuno was wondering if she could be used as a subject for further testing regarding bloodbonding," Zero Two said.

"Sorry, what's that?" Her darling asked, while Zero Two had already prepared an explanation.

"It's her term for the process by which a homosapiens transitions into a klaxosapiens. So far, you're the only example of it. You're living proof it works, which is hope for us," she said.

"So it's another way to bolster the klaxosapiens population, then? I mean, the only way, right?" He asked, sadness marring his face.

Zero Two was confused. What did he mean? "Huh?"

"You know, because you can't…" he trailed off.

"Not following, darling," she said, brows furrowing.

"Remember when you said that you can't-" he paused, "-you can't leave something behind? You were talking about having kids, right?"

Zero Two was shocked. She _did_ say that, so how… how was…

"I… I guess so. Memories still fuzzy, you know," she said.

"So… bloodbonding is the only way, then," her darling said, defeat joining sadness on his face.

She sighed. She really was bad at explaining things sometimes, wasn't she? The only way she could convince him was…

She moved closer to him, touching their horns. Hiro was confused for a second, then he heard his heartbeat. Then Zero Two's. And then a third.

His eyes widened. "What? But… you said…"

Zero Two smiled. "I guess I was wrong. Because, well, we're going to have a child, darling."

Hiro laughed, blinking rapidly. "Wow, just… wow. When did you, you know, conceive?"

"About three weeks ago, when we first had sex, I think," she said, giggling. "We're going to be parents, darling."

Hiro was getting emotional too - tears were welling in his eyes - but he was still grinning enormously. "We're going to be parents. Wow! I… I never dreamed I'd get to say that!"

Zero Two kept on laughing, the raw emotion coursing through both of them running down their faces. "I know, I know! It's so exciting!" She exclaimed.

Both were still crying, and laughing. They were happier than they'd ever been.

"I love you," they declared, simultaneously.

That night, in front of the mech that was their love, inside the hangar in their home, two parents-to-be sat, crying, and laughing, and living. They fell asleep there, in each other's arms, not caring if the world thought they were monsters. Because they knew that they weren't. They knew that they were more human than they'd ever been before.

* * *

A/N: How about that, huh? Excited?

On a more serious note, how do you guys feel about these 6k-word updates? You like them? Think they're tedious? Let me know!

Gonna be working on this a lot - I'm on vacation in a place that's practically perfect for writing.

Until next time, dsw78


	4. Rewrite

A/N: Just gonna keep these coming, although I will spread them out.

Special thanks to my betas, Code 118 and KingPolar. Go check 'em out!

As always, thanks for your support - I really do appreciate it.

* * *

Tired eyes opened slowly. Where was she? _Why_ was she? She shouldn't be alive.

Strands of gray hair fell around her shoulders as she sat up, looking at the space around her.

She was sitting in a small cave, and just outside she could see the single spire of the Bird Nest, surrounded by the parasites' makeshift town.

Water dripped from the ceiling, and she followed it to a small puddle. She looked in, and saw her own reflection. Her skin had regained its glow, was she healed? What had happened to her eyes - why were they cyan? And were those…?

Two small, grass-green horns had appeared on her forehead, complemented by her pupils and markings around her eyes. She really did look like _her_ now, huh? Iota, the favorite. Alpha thought he controlled her, and the boy that should've been Kappa was in love with her. Zeta, though? She… she just wanted to escape from the pain. The former triplet sighed, finally ripping the muzzle off her face. She wouldn't need it for long. As she was leaving, a small stalagmite caught her eye. She paused, picking it up, examining its sharpness. _Perfect._

9'ζ walked out of the small cave she was reborn in, heading towards her former masters' final base. She needed, more than anything else, a reason for why they'd left her behind. _Why didn't they let me die?_

As she approached the spired structure, a man on patrol took notice of her. "Who are you?" He yelled, but Zeta kept walking. She would get her answers, even if it was the last thing she'd do.

She walked into the main hall of the Bird Nest, and shouted, voice reverberating in the open space, "Iota! Talk to me!"

No response. People had begun gathering around her, though, so she figured it was only a matter of time before Iota arrived. A few minutes later, she'd gotten her wish.

Iota walked into the space behind her, her hands linked with Kappa's. "Zeta? Is that you?" She asked incredulously. "How are you still alive?"

"Why didn't you let me die?! Why didn't you take me with you?" Zeta rushed towards Kappa, drawing the stalagmite from her back. As she raised it up to stab him, the larger man effortlessly overpowered her, twisting her arm to the side. A snap was heard, and Zeta's mind shut down before the pain could come.

* * *

Hiro and Zero Two were understandably shaken from the events of the past couple days. A vengeful last Nine and the news that they'd be parents had them pretty tired. After ensuring that Zeta was restrained properly in Ikuno's lab - the scientist had wanted to examine her - the couple had returned to the newly redesigned Squad 13 section of the barracks.

As Hiro sat on the couch in the common area, he made a mental note to thank Mitsuru later. Everything he'd done was wonderful, and the man was still working. He even found time at home for his wife and daughter, something Hiro was no longer jealous of. After all, he could - no, he would have that soon enough. Well, maybe not a daughter, but a child nonetheless.

Zero Two had laid her head in her darling's lap, and he was fiddling with her hair. She'd recently begun testing a new shampoo mixture that a friend of Ikuno's had developed, and she could tell that her darling liked it a lot.

Hiro sighed, looking down at his honey. "What the hell was that all about? Why did she try to kill me?" He asked.

"To be honest, I don't know myself. Zeta - she never talked. I'm not even sure she had emotions, though that seems to have changed," she answered, trailing her fingers on the hand he had in her hair.

"I asked Ikuno to let us know when she wakes up. I have a feeling the three of us have a lot to discuss," he said, prompting Zero Two to nod slightly.

"Yeah, and did you see her horns? She's like us, I think," she added.

"That's another thing to find out, then. This week's shaping up to be a crazy one, eh?" He chuckled, the sound music to Zero Two's ears. He really did have a nice laugh.

They sat that way for a while, before she sat up in his lap, pressing their horns together. Both sat in silence, listening to all three of their hearts beating.

Zorome opened the door slowly, still carrying Miku. She was lighter than he'd expected, but still pretty heavy, so he'd been trudging his way back to Squad 13's dorm. He looked inside, and saw Hiro and Zero Two doing that thing they always did with their horns. It was a nice gesture, he supposed, but he felt like he'd walked in on them making out.

"Get to your room, you two," he murmured under his breath.

"Could say the same thing yourself, huh?" _That's right_ , Zorome thought, resigning himself to his fate. _He can hear lots more now._

Zero Two turned around in her darling's lap, both of them now facing him. Zorome sighed. "I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I?"

Zero Two shook her head. "Nope!" She called out, causing Zorome to nod.

"Well, I'm just going to put Miku here in her bed. I'll be back out in a few," he said, walking over to her room.

If anything, Hiro and Zero Two were more surprised that he _hadn't_ gotten incredibly mad at them. But, then again, he did look really tired. They shared a knowing look, planning to ask him about it when he returned.

Miku's door shut softly, and Zorome flopped down on the couch opposite Hiro and Zero Two's. He groaned, rubbing his eyes. "I'm _really_ feeling that bench now, I'll tell ya."

Hiro narrowed his eyes. "You slept on a bench?" Zorome nodded. "Why?"

The brown-haired man groaned again. "Miku and I were out watching the sunset in the park by the cherry sapling, then the stars came out, and then she fell asleep on my shoulder. Then I…" he stopped, realizing he'd said too much. "It wasn't like that, okay! I don't think of her in that way!" He added, causing Hiro to roll his eyes.

Zero Two's mouth was agape. "You and Miku went out together, did all that, and you _really_ don't have any feelings for her at all?" She asked, wanting confirmation as to whether this guy was an actual idiot or not.

Zorome blushed, holding a pillow in front of his face. "Well… I can't say there's _nothing_ there, can I?" He mumbled.

"Do you forget that we can still hear everything you say?" Hiro asked dryly.

Zorome removed the pillow, glaring at the other man. After he felt like he'd conveyed enough of his emotions to him, he put the pillow behind his head and faced upwards. "I'm going to take a nap. Go back to horn-making out or whatever you were doing," he said, closing his eyes.

Hiro shrugged, taking Zorome's suggestion and nuzzling Zero Two's nape a bit, causing her to gasp. "Darling!" She exclaimed, leaning back into him a little bit. She then turned, allowing them to actually start making out.

This continued for a while before Ichigo and Goro came back, having stayed up late working at the Grand Palace. The four of them had been bonding a lot lately - they had recently started watching old shows that Dr. Franxx had kept saved, finding their favorite to be a certain workplace comedy.

Ichigo cleared her throat, breaking Zero Two and Hiro out of their embrace. "You guys really need to learn that that makes people uncomfortable, you know," she admonished, bringing both hybrids to shrug.

"Why should we be reserved? We're in love!" Zero Two exclaimed.

"Yep, yep," Hiro agreed, echoing Zero Two's familiar phrase.

Goro sighed. "Well, if we can't stop you, we can at least let you know that Zeta's awake. Ikuno actually sent us to get you, so please, follow us," he said.

Hiro and Zero Two begrudgingly got up, as did Zorome, who went to go get Miku. He figured that they'd need all the help they could get, if it came to that.

* * *

The six of them walked down the hall, Ichigo offering Zorome and Miku a brief explanation as to the situation regarding Zeta. She was winding down her talk when Goro announced that they were here.

Ichigo opened the door, and Hiro and Zero Two walked in to find Zeta strapped to a table, straining against her bindings.

"Whywhywhywhywhy?! Why won't you let me be _freeeeeeeeeee_ \- be free? Let me go, let me go, let me go!" The triplet was clearly in a lot of mental trauma, having lost her meager family and being denied the chance to have it all end.

Ikuno approached them, groaning. "She's been like this ever since she woke up. Her arm has already healed, and my tests confirm that she's a member of the klaxosapiens species," she paused, checking to see if Hiro and Zero Two were still following. "What's more intriguing is that, despite APE records confirming that she's a clone of Zero Two, her genes now bear very little resemblance to your own. She's in a new body, I think," Ikuno finished, and Hiro nodded.

Zero Two was staring at Zeta, who was still spasming against her restraints and begging for death. What happened to her? She approached the woman on the bed, pulling up a chair. "Zeta, how are you doing?"

The triplet's eyes snapped to hers. "Iota, Miss Perfect," she hissed, "Perfect relationship, body, and life. Yet you are still unhappy. Whywhywhy?"

Zero Two stared into her glowing green pupils, pity apparent in her own crimson ones. "Zeta, listen to me. My life was just as bad as yours, until my darling came. I myself wanted to…" she paused, breathing heavily. "I wanted to die. I had no reason to live. Then I found my darling again, but I had to fight for him. Life is fighting, Zeta. Be that literal or metaphorical, it is, and giving up is _not_ okay."

Zeta had calmed down, thinking about what Zero Two was saying. "What if I don't have anything to fight for?" She asked, as Hiro walked over.

He stood next to his honey, grabbing her hand. "Find one, then. You've got all the time in the world now, and nothing holding you back," he said.

Zeta drew in a breath, watching Hiro and Zero Two's hands interlocking. "See, things like that? I'll never have that. No one will ever love me," she said, sniffling.

"Again, Zeta, I thought that…" Zero Two smiled. "But look at me now! I'm with my darling, and soon… I'll be a mother," she said, looking up at Hiro.

The other four members of Squad 13 were standing back, and Ichigo gasped. "But, you said-"

Ikuno cut her off. "We all know what she said, but that's changed. I can confirm that she is most definitely pregnant."

Hiro's smile grew bigger. "I'm never going to get tired of hearing that," he stated.

For Zeta, however, this news served only as further proof that the universe was denying her happiness. "Even that, see! I most definitely can't do that! Why is fate so… so cruel?"

Ikuno sighed. "Sorry to break it to you, Zeta, but you and Zero Two both had your wombs fixed when Strelizia's energy seeped back into the Earth. I've cross-referenced ultrasounds from yesterday with some I took today, and both of you have perfectly functioning reproductive organs," the scientist said, Zeta looking at her.

"So, you're saying…" she began.

"Yes, you can find happiness, if you wish. Fate doesn't have power over you," Ikuno finished, as her other squad members looked at her, eyes wide. "What?"

"Waxing poetic is _my_ job, Ikuno," Hiro said, laughing. "We didn't know you had it in you!"

Ikuno pouted, releasing Zeta. "Ah, get out of here, you guys. I've gotta finish that damn cure!"

They relented, Hiro and Zero Two supporting Zeta as she got up. The second they got out the door, Ichigo and Miku were all over Zero Two, congratulating her. Goro and Zorome had gone over to Hiro, and were effectively doing the same.

"I'm happy for you, bro," Goro said, patting him on the back. "We've another father in the mix!"

Zorome smirked. "Guess all that noise led to something, eh? Congratulations," he mocked, clapping slowly.

Zorome looked back at the congregation around Zero Two, before bringing Goro and Hiro in close. "So, can you guys help me get with Miku?" He pleaded.

Hiro sighed. "I thought you didn't think of her like that," he teased.

Zorome flicked him on the nose. "Shh! Just, can you or can you not?"

Goro nodded, and Hiro agreed to help too. "It's best for all of us to be happy, right?" Goro said, chuckling.

Unbeknownst to the huddling men, Miku was asking Ichigo and Zero Two a pretty similar question.

"I thought you said he was an idiot," Ichigo said.

"He is! I think I like him anyways, though," Miku responded.

"That's good - liking someone through their flaws," Zero Two said, looking over at Zeta. "Hey, Zeta, get in here!" She beckoned, bringing the other hybrid in close.

Zeta leaned in with the other girls, confused as to what was happening. "What are we doing?" She asked, loud enough to draw the other boys' - not Hiro's, as he already knew what was going on - attention.

Zero Two shushed her, sharing a knowing look with her darling. "We're trying to get Miku here with Zorome," she told the green-horned woman.

"Why would she want to be with him? All you guys have done is call him an idiot for the past…" she checked the time on her PDA, "... five minutes."

"Fair point," Zero Two said, "But Miku asked for our help, so we're going to help her. Do you understand?"

Zeta went deadpan, and stared at her. "Do you think I'm a child? What do I need to do, if anything?"

Zero Two smiled. "So, you're onboard, good. Miku?" She looked to the redhead, directing her towards Zeta.

Miku extended her hand. "Hi, Zeta! I'm Miku," she introduced herself, and Zeta moved for her hand hesitantly. _Is she going to pull away? I tried to hurt their friend…_

Zeta smiled when she didn't. "Hi, Miku. Pleasure to meet you," she said.

Miku smiled, removing her hand. "Alright then, let's plan to meet up sometime to talk about this further, guys," she said, disbanding their huddle.

Zorome followed suit, going with Miku, Ichigo, and Goro to their common room to relax. Hiro and Zero Two decided to show Zeta around, waving goodbye to their other friends.

* * *

Futoshi wiped some sweat off of his forehead, exhaling. He and Nimina had been incredibly busy lately, despite the extra help. Orders just kept on coming in as more and more people got real jobs, Ichigo's masterful introduction of the currency helping in that regard.

One good thing Futoshi got out of working with and delivering baked goods is that he was starting to lose some weight. Not that he was very self-conscious, but it did help him move around, and he had to admit that he liked how he looked now way more.

He got back to the bread he was working on, as Nimina put another batch out for walk-in customers to use. She'd been really busy lately, but she liked that. She'd found Futoshi to be good company, his demeanor and ability to keep her motivated just as good as his baking skills.

The two were talking about the sudden influx of orders on a break when Hiro, Zero Two, and Zeta walked in.

"Hey, Futoshi! How's it going?" Hiro called, sitting down at their table as Zero Two pointed out some things to Zeta.

"Forgive me my manners!" Nimina said, standing up and bowing. "Thank you so much, for all you've done for us!"

Hiro waved her off. "Ah, stop it. A friend of Futoshi's is a friend of mine, and there's no need to be so formal with friends."

Nimina was surprised at the nonchalant manner of Earth's savior, but he was just another one of them, she supposed. "I'm Nimina," she said, sitting back down.

Hiro grinned. "Nice to meet you, Nimina. You work with Futoshi, right?" She nodded. "How are things going around here?"

Futoshi sighed. "It's always real busy. Ever since jobs started opening up, all people have wanted to do is buy our bread, it seems. Not that I'm complaining, but it's very tiring," he exhaled, rubbing the back of his head.

Nimina checked the time, tapping Futoshi on the shoulder. It seemed break was over - they needed to get back to work.

Hiro thanked them for their time, and stood up, getting Zero Two and Zeta's attention. The trio then continued on their tour, showing Zeta around the town and where she'd be staying.

It was a relatively small room, near Squad 13's common quarters. Zeta was quite thankful for the gesture, as she suddenly felt quite tired, and excused herself.

The rest of the afternoon, the former triplet dreamed of happy days, days where she could dance under the cherry blossoms with someone.

* * *

The next day, Ikuno had finished her cure research, and tested it on Naomi. Her girlfriend had stopped displaying adverse signs of the yellow blood cells - they were there, so FranXX piloting should still be possible, but there was no more rapid aging - her cell cycle had returned to "normal" speed, although that was based off Hiro and Zero Two's regular cell death and replacement speed.

 _They saved our generation again_ , she thought.

She began preparing a speech to give at her official revealing of the cure, when her PDA pinged. She'd gotten a message from Ichigo, telling her to come outside - there were some klaxosaur carcases there, and they didn't know why.

She walked outside, grateful that her own accelerated aging hadn't progressed to the point where she couldn't move, and found Ichigo standing with some of the other squad members over the pile of dead klaxosaurs.

Zero Two stood up from the pile, facing Ikuno. "My darling and I smelled it earlier," she said, shrugging. "There's really no sign as to why it's here."

Hiro was poking around the other parts of the pile, and exclaimed that he'd found something. As the others gathered around him, he picked up a rectangular piece of klaxo-material, showing the others.

Written on the piece were the words, _For further construction, without any moral ambiguity. We know you need all the FranXX you can get._

"Huh," Zero Two said. "Guess they intend for us to build more FranXX out of it."

"Who's going to do that, though?" Goro asked. "We do have the doctor's notes on the construction process, but no actual practical experience with it." He turned to Ikuno. "Could you try your hand at some, Ikuno?"

The scientist shrugged. "Sure, I guess. We don't have any power to operate them, though, and I don't think the klaxosaurs want us digging up any more magma energy."

Zero Two raised her hand. "Strelizia ran out ages ago, and it's still operating. Can my darling and I help with that?"

Ikuno nodded. "Sure, if you're fine with running a bunch of tests in the machine," she said.

"Fine by me," Hiro said. "It'll give us a chance to actually plan our wedding, seeing as we won't have much to do in there."

Ichigo was confused. "Wait, you guys are actually getting married?"

Hiro nodded. "Yeah. Didn't we tell you?"

Ichigo shook her head, and Hiro shrugged. Ikuno sighed, getting out before the two could get further into discussion. She needed to finish that speech, and then she could see about restarting the FranXX program, preferably without the whole "cloning" aspect.

Seeing as she'd confirmed Ai had inherited yellow blood cells, optional military service for future citizens was a very real possibility. One they needed to utilize if they were to counter Edelweiss.

* * *

Ichigo had authorized the usage of the Palace's main hall for Ikuno's reveal of the so-called "miracle cure." The researcher was standing outside with Naomi, making sure her appearance was fine for the speech.

"You look good," Naomi said, smoothing out a crease on her dress sleeve. "You're going to kill it, dear."

Ikuno smiled. "Thanks. I'll try!"

Ichigo motioned for them to come onstage, and they walked out to the podium, Ikuno placing her speech up. She cleared her throat, and began talking.

"Two days ago, I finished the cure for the rapid aging brought on by yellow blood cells, thanks to the blood of Hiro and Zero Two," she began gesturing towards the hybrids. "I've tested it on several subjects, and it appears to work. As such, its administration will begin soon, after I finish synthesizing more," she finished, asking for any questions.

None followed, and she thanked the room to thunderous applause. Hiro was surprised that she hadn't been more verbose, as she easily could've been, but it really was quite the simple matter: she'd fixed their only remaining biological problem.

Hiro and Zero Two followed Ikuno back to her laboratory, where Zeta and Kokoro were waiting. The two of them had proved invaluable in the basic preparation of their wedding, and Hiro and Zero Two were incredibly thankful for that. The hybrids had planned Kokoro and Mitsuru's, but that was more impromptu than anything. This was going to be a real wedding.

He and his honey entered their mech, neurodes and plenty of other wires attached to it. Ikuno needed all the data she could get from it in order to figure out exactly how it operated without magma energy. Today's test was the… the third so far, Hiro thought, although they all blended together in his mind. Each had been about seven hours long, but it felt like it was so much longer. Even with his honey there, it really was just tedium.

The mech activated, and Ikuno gave her a thumbs up. Strelizia returned the gesture, and got to discussing her wedding with her darling, Zeta, and Kokoro.

This session, they were talking about the flowers they should use. Kokoro had suggested lilies, while Zeta was thinking roses. Zero Two was sticking to strelitzias, though, and Hiro had to agree. It was _their_ flower, and he was sure there was still a patch of them in Mistilteinn somewhere. He and his honey could go out to find them, and get in a nice day just to themselves. It was nice seeing your friends again after two years of being alone, but it'd gotten to the point where they had basically no personal time.

"Kokoro, it's my wedding, and I'm telling you, we're using _my flowers_ ," Strelizia said, making the planner throw her hands up in defeat. Zeta shrugged, leaning back in her chair and looking at the schedule.

"Up next is… venue! You paying attention, Hiro?" She asked.

Hiro hadn't stopped paying attention. He had literally nothing else to do. "Yep," he confirmed. He was thinking of the beach, as water was important to them, and they hadn't been there in so long. They could combine it with another beach day for Squad 13, and maybe, just maybe, get Zorome and Miku together.

"So, how about the beach?" Strelizia said. He and his honey were mentally linked, so of course they'd think of the same thing! Or maybe they both just associated it with good things.

"For once, I think we all agree on this. Zeta?" The hybrid in question nodded. "The beach it is, then. Great," Kokoro said, writing it down.

Hiro sighed. "Ikuno, how long have we been in here?" He asked, exasperated.

"Uh… about half an hour, Hiro," she responded.

Hiro sighed, wishing that he could make time pass faster.

A few hours later, Hiro was sitting back in the stamen's chair, sighing for the umpteenth time. As much as he loved the feeling that he was helping out, he wished he could plan for his wedding somewhere else. Ikuno needed to get this research in, though, because she wouldn't be able to for a while afterwards.

Zero Two was approaching the stage in her pregnancy where she wouldn't be able to pilot any more, and although they'd discovered a klaxosapiens' gestation period to be about two months shorter than a genetic human's - the fetus was developing incredibly fast - that was still six months without any meaningful research getting done.

He felt Zero Two get out of the control seat, as Ikuno announced that they were done for the day. She grabbed his hand, dragging him outside.

Ikuno gave them a quick debrief on what she'd learned so far - not much - and Hiro and Zero Two said their goodbyes, running to their room.

They'd gotten reservations for some new fancy place that Ichigo and Goro had recommended, and needed to go get changed. After all, it was their first night out like this.

* * *

Zorome had decided to pitch his idea for a school to Ichigo, and had recruited Miku to help him. She had some qualms with parts of it, but he'd changed those pieces quickly. They needed to present a united front in this.

He was putting on a suit - he probably didn't need it, but better to look professional - and had just finished fixing his hair when Miku came into his room. Zorome raised his eyebrows at her new appearance.

She'd let her hair down, and was wearing an orange dress that Kokoro had probably made. Her new sewing shop was working wonders for women who wanted to look good. Zorome had started being more honest with himself about his feelings regarding his partner's appearance: she looked good. _Really_ good.

Miku was snapping her fingers in front of his face, trying to get him to snap out of whatever rut he'd gotten himself into this time. Finally, he flinched.

"What the hell was that for?" He asked, startled.

"You spaced out again, idiot. Finish getting ready, we need to get going," she chided, exiting the room.

Zorome sighed, and continued his preparation. Naomi was also supposed to join them, but she hadn't showed. _Probably something with Ikuno_ , he thought.

Zorome exited the building with Miku in tow. They needed to make this quick - both quite disliked their attire. It was stifling! They needed to get back into their casual clothes, their nice, comfortable, casual clothes…

Zorome looked over at Miku, preparing to ask a question.

"Before you ask, I've got the papers with me," she responded, holding up a folder. Had she read his mind?

"Always so dutiful," Zorome said, smiling.

"I try," Miku replied.

Silence resumed around them, the chirping of cicadas filling the air. Zorome was surprised - he'd read about them before, but never seen or heard them! "So, they're back, huh?"

Miku looked at him in confusion. "Who's back?"

Zorome gestured around him. "The cicadas. The things making all that noise," he clarified. Miku nodded, looking around them.

"Oh, look at that," she said, pointing into a restaurant in front of them. Zorome followed her lead, seeing Hiro and Zero Two dining at a nice restaurant.

"They look almost like us, hah!" Zorome joked, nudging Miku with his elbow, as they started to walk again.

"What, dressed up, or going out?" She teased, bringing Zorome to stammer.

"Dr-dressed up, Miku. Do you want us to be going out?" He countered, causing Miku to look away, blushing.

"Oh, I hate you," she muttered, bringing Zorome to laugh. "It's not funny really! Things like that are not to be taken lightly!"

He stopped laughing, looking her dead in the eyes. "I wasn't taking it lightly," he told her, voice as dry as the desert.

Her eyes widened, and Zorome began holding in a laugh. "Oh, come on, Zorome!" She yelled, rolling her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he apologized, rubbing his shoulder uncomfortably. "How long until we actually reach this place?"

Miku turned to him, pointing to a building on her left. "That's where Ichigo's office is. She'll be expecting us by now."

Zorome ran in front of her, opening the door and gesturing for her to move inside. Hiro had been "tutoring him" on gentlemanly conduct lately, and this was one of the most basic things he could do.

However, Miku rolled her eyes at the gesture. Maybe Zorome should've anticipated that Miku wouldn't be receptive to these methods… but she did walk through the door without further complaint.

Zorome sighed, and followed her in. "What, you don't like it when I'm _nice_?" He asked.

She shook her head, exhaling. "It's not that. It's just… not something you'd do, Zorome. Be yourself," she stated, still walking towards Ichigo's office.

 _Be myself, huh?_ Zorome thought. So maybe… Hiro wasn't the best tutor for getting _into_ relationships. Zorome decided he'd try some of Hiro's techniques _after_ he'd passed that initial step, seeing as most of what he'd been learning was falling flat.

They came up on Ichigo's office, and Miku knocked. They heard some clattering, and after a moment Ichigo told them to come in.

The bluenette was sitting at her desk, arms propping up her chin. "Hey guys. I was just cleaning up in here when you came in," she said, panting a bit. "Is it hot to you guys?"

Miku shook her head. "I'm a bit cold, honestly. Are you alright, Ichigo?" The redhead asked, concern present on her and Zorome's faces.

"I'm fine," she told them, smiling. "So, what do you have for me?"

Miku handed her the papers and Ichigo skimmed over them, setting them on her desk. "It looks good, I'll get back to you guys on it," she said.

"That's it? We dressed up for nothing?" Zorome asked, a little pissed. He'd spent at least half an hour figuring out how to tie his tie, and Ichigo was blowing them off like this?

"You guys honestly didn't need to dress up, but this might help," she said, handing them a small coupon for the restaurant they'd passed on the way there. "Now, get out of here, I'll look at your proposal properly later."

Zorome and Miku walked out of the room, leaving Ichigo to do... whatever she needed to do. "Well, we may as well take her up on that offer. Would you join me, Miku?" He asked, offering his hand.

She hesitated for a moment, but took his hand. "I'd be delighted, Zorome," she said.

He smiled, and the two set off for a night they'd surely remember, the setting sun bringing warmth to their open hearts.

* * *

Hiro made a mental note to thank Goro for suggesting that restaurant. It was such a wonderful experience - they'd have to do it again sometime. Maybe for his birthday. He looked over at his honey, who was humming softly.

Zero Two was having an amazing night. Not much else could make it better - maybe a certain third person being present, although they would have to wait for another half-year.

She smiled brightly at the thought of motherhood. It was a new feeling, the idea that she really could raise something, that she could leave something behind. It was something she thought she could never do, but… she never thought she could be with her darling, either.

Hiro looked up from the pink-haired girl next to him, seeing that they'd made it to Squad 13's dorm. He gently opened the door, and found the room empty, save for a small note on the whiteboard left by Ichigo. It said she was at her office, and Hiro also saw a small note from Goro that she'd tried to cross out, confirming that he was with her.

Hiro rolled his eyes, simultaneously still grateful that those two had gotten together, but also smirking because he had a feeling about exactly what they were doing. _Did they_ really _need to use her office? I feel so bad for the janitorial staff…_

He continued on with his honey to their shared room, and began changing into his nightclothes as soon as they entered.

He was taking his tie off when his honey bounced up to him, holding something behind her back.

"Guess what I got earlier~?" She singsonged, shifting on her heels and toes.

"What?" Hiro said, playing dumb. He had a feeling that she'd brought back-

"The picture book!" She announced, showing it to him. "Remember, we said we'd finish our rewrite! So, let's get to it!"

Hiro smiled, ideas already flowing into his head on how to make the ending their own. "Alright, alright. So, where are we in the process?"

"Well," his honey began, "I've got the crayons, so I can do the illustrations, but I was thinking that you could do the actual ending? You're so much better with words!"

Hiro nodded, moving her over to the bed so that they could sit. "Well, I'll see what I can think of. You get started on the drawing, okay?" He said, pecking her on the lips.

She nodded, pulling out her crayons and getting to work. Hiro sat back on the pillows, grabbing a notepad and a pencil to write with. He had some general ideas for how the ending should go, but not much concrete. He _definitely_ wanted the prince and the beast to reunite, but how was he going to get there in one page, assuming they kept the original last two pages?

Hiro sat like that for a while, unable to come up with anything. He put the notepad down and rubbed at his eyes, exhausted. His honey was still lying on the bed, drawing and humming softly. His gaze drifted to her horns, and Hiro realized what he needed to do.

He picked up the notepad, and began writing.

 _At long last, the prince found his wife again._

 _She tried to make him leave, to keep him safe, but he would have none of it._

 _He threw away his humanity as if casting a stone, his wanting to be with her overpowering any reservations he had._

 _The two then flew away, back into the forest, living the rest of their lives together._

He put his pencil down and tapped his fiancée's shoulder, getting her attention.

"How does this read, honey?" He asked, showing her what he'd written so far.

She took a moment to look over it, then she looked back up at him. "This is for after the original ending, right?"

"Yes, we're still using the separation bit," he confirmed, still waiting for her response to his piece.

"Then it's wonderful, darling. I'll draw in that part after I'm done here, okay?" She told him, getting back to her work.

He set the notebook down again, and leaned back into the bed. He really wished that he was a natural at illustrating - then he could actually help her with that bit. She'd done most of it, and he felt a little bad that he couldn't do more to help.

Zero Two looked up, and saw her darling was boring a hole into a spot on the ceiling above him. "Are you alright, darling?" She asked, concerned that he was overthinking things again.

He sighed. "I'm fine. I just wish I could do more to help you, you know? You've done all of this, and I've barely done _anything_ ," he stated, looking at her. "It makes me feel bad."

"Darling, you help out just by being here with me. I wouldn't be around to illustrate this story if it weren't for you. Please don't forget that," she told her darling, positioning herself over him. "Besides, you'll have plenty to help with once the baby comes."

That last sentence was music to Hiro's ears. "I'm looking forward to it," he said, leaning up to kiss her. She smiled into the embrace, wrapping her arms around his back.

After some time, they broke apart, and she laid down on his chest. "Darling, I'm tired," she pouted, playing with his hair.

He concurred. "Good night, honey." He closed his eyes.

"Good night, darling." She closed her eyes, resting her head on his neck.

In a nearby room, another hybrid sat up in her bed. She sighed, looking at her reflection in the window. Would anyone ever want to be with her, like Hiro and Zero Two? Would she ever find her 'darling?'

* * *

A/N: As always, thanks for reading. Like I said, no real update schedule here.

However, once I'm busy again, I'll try to do these weekly.

Yours, dsw78


	5. Forever

A/N: So I've actually decided to just start doing these weekly, haha. If only so that I can feel confident in all that I'm writing.

Thanks again to Ambient_Riot and KingPolar for betaing.

'Preciate you guys.

* * *

Another four days flew by, with Hiro and Zero Two spending all of their time in Strelizia.

Ikuno was reaching the point in her research where she didn't need to collect any more data, and Hiro was grateful for that.

Well, more accurately, his back was. That stamen chair was _uncomfortable_.

What part of the wedding were they discussing today? _The dress_ , he remembered. That was why he was wearing earplugs and a blindfold, and attempting to think of anything else - he didn't want to catch any thoughts his honey had about her attire.

Kokoro and his honey had insisted he have no knowledge of its appearance until the big day - which was in _one week_ \- because of an 'old tradition,' or so they told him. Hiro had merely sighed and let them put his new cranial accessories on, preferring that to disagreeing with his fiancée.

Some other 'cranial accessories' Hiro was having difficulties with were his horns, surprisingly enough. Although his honey had told him that they were organic, and that he'd need to file them occasionally to maintain a healthy length, maintaining them had completely slipped his mind lately.

That mistake was catching up to him now, as he was constantly hitting them against door frames. Mitsuru had started getting on his case about it, chastising him for leaving scratch marks almost everywhere he went, and Hiro really didn't want to put any more weight on his shoulders.

The man had designed, quite literally, every new building in the town. He hadn't personally installed every last inch of concrete or drywall, but Hiro knew the attachment he had to his work was strong, and he wanted to respect that.

 _Enough reminiscing_ , he thought, feeling his honey exit the pistil controls. She removed the blindfold and earplugs gently, kissing him on the forehead.

"Thanks for going along with this, darling," she whispered. "It really means a lot to me."

Hiro smiled. "It's no trouble, really," he responded. "Anything for you."

She beamed back at him, that smile instantly making his day.

* * *

During the dress preparation, Zero Two's pregnancy had come up again.

Ikuno was more surprised than anything at the fact that she hadn't experienced any symptoms minus morning sickness - or so Zero Two said.

She decided to ask Hiro about it after he exited the mech, rubbing his back.

She pulled him aside. "Hiro, has Zero Two been… different, lately? Have you noticed any changes at all?"

Hiro shook his head. "You're asking because you need to note any occurrences regarding klaxosapien pregnancy, I assume?"

The researcher nodded, sighing. "So, she's still the same as she was before the pregnancy?"

"Besides the morning sickness, she's been all over me and happy to see her friends again, if that's what you mean," he stated. "Her stomach and…" he paused, coughing, "... breasts are larger than normal, if that's any use to you."

Ikuno pulled out her PDA, typing what he said into her notes. "So, just like a human pregnancy, then. That's to be expected, seeing how similar klaxosapien genes are to a human's," she muttered to herself.

Hiro cleared his throat, getting her attention. "Hey, can I go now? We've got plans," he enunciated, bringing the researcher to smirk.

"You going out again? I heard from Miku that she saw you guys at that fancy place," she teased, the taller man starting to walk away.

"Tell her to mind her own business, or else I'll complain about her and Zorome," he called out, grabbing his honey's hand.

"What?!" She shouted back, earning a handwave from him. The scientist sighed, getting back to analyzing Strelizia's data.

"Hey," Zeta's voice sounded from behind her, startling her. "Could I ask you a favor?"

Ikuno took off her glasses, rubbing her eyes and trying to calm down. "First: don't scare me like that again. Second: sure."

Zeta rocked on the balls of her feet. "Could you… once you've figured out how Strelizia operates, could you design me a FranXX?"

Ikuno pinched the bridge of her nose, thinking for a moment. "I can't promise anything right now, but I'll look into it," she said, taking her hand away from her face. "How would you pilot it?"

Zeta stopped for a second. "Um… until I find a partner, I could just pilot it alone. Zero Two did as much before Hiro came along."

Ikuno raised her eyebrows. "You want to find someone like Hiro?" Zeta nodded. "I'm not sure how many people like him exist, but if you do find someone… you'd need to give him your blood. Otherwise, you'd kill him in three or less rides, just like Zero Two did."

"What would giving him my blood do?" Zeta asked, biting her lip.

"It would start to turn him into a klaxosapiens after the third ride with you," the researcher said.

"He'd… he'd be like me?" Zeta breathed, incredulously.

Ikuno sighed. She _really_ didn't want to have to get into moral quandaries like this with another hybrid woman. Having Zero Two still be guilty over "what I did to Hiro" was more than enough. "Yes, he'd be like you."

Zeta thought for a moment, then smiled. "Thanks, Ikuno. You've really done so much for all of us," she told her, patting the scientist on the back.

"It honestly doesn't feel like that much," Ikuno said, laughing. "Now, get out of here! Go look for your 'darling,' or whatever nickname you'll wind up using!"

Zeta giggled, walking out of the room. "Alright, have fun looking at that data," she singsonged.

The green-horned hybrid was in a particularly good mood today.

* * *

Zero Two was excited. Her darling had suggested they go look at proper housing today - the squad dorm couldn't hold another occupant - so they'd ran out of Ikuno's lab.

They were approaching the place now, in more appropriate clothing than their piloting suits. It was a relatively small, recently-constructed, and fully-furnished two-story house that a friend of Mitsuru's had designed.

Hiro couldn't exactly remember the name of its style - Mitsuru called it "postmodern" - but it was relatively rectangular, with a part on the second floor jutting out into a small, roofed porch.

The house itself was located a short distance from the main complex, nearby the moat they'd planned to surround the spire. As they came up on the house's door, it opened and a man about their age beckoned them inside.

He showed them around the place, pointing out various rooms. They started with the kitchen, which had almost all the appliances Hiro thought it was possible to have. After that came the living room, complete with a large holoscreen and surround-sound system.

They followed the man into both of the bathrooms the place came with - each one with a shower and bathtub combination, complete with all the other bells and whistles bathrooms should have.

At last, they came up to the master bedroom. The realtor pointed out its privacy-securing features, and showing off the bed. Zero Two had immediately flopped onto it, and was seemingly impressed with its consistency. Hiro decided that he'd break it in later, seeing as they now needed to see the room that they'd even started considering this place for.

The second bedroom.

Hiro pulled his honey off the bed with some resistance, reminding her that they needed to check out the room their child would be in. Both smiled at the mention of "their child," the thought still a little foreign, but never unwelcome. They were both absolutely positive that nothing else could cause such a strong emotion in them.

The two hybrids followed the man into the next room over, its decoration surprising them. Mitsuru must've told his friend that this room should be for their child, as the space was tailored for exactly that.

The walls were painted a light purple - probably on Kokoro's suggestion, she'd pointed out that it was "a mixture of your colors" on several occasions - and the entire room followed that color scheme. A small crib sat in the corner of the room closest to the door, adorned with little models of birds that Hiro recognized as replicas of the one his honey had drawn two years ago in Mistilteinn.

It really was a perfect room. It had just the right amount of personalization without being obnoxious, and Hiro was loving the rest of the place, too. He nodded at the realtor, who took them outside.

"So, what do you think?" He asked, looking over at them.

Zero Two glanced at her darling briefly, before nodding. "We like it, but we'd still like some time to think over it before we make a decision. Is that alright?"

The realtor typed something on his PDA. "That's fine, let us know when you've chosen what you'll do. I'm glad you two enjoyed the place!"

Hiro smiled. "It really was wonderful," he stated. "How much does it cost?"

The black-haired man steeled himself for the answer. _It'll probably be too much._

"For you two, we lowered the price a lot. Consider it our thanks for all you've done," the man said, looking at his PDA again. "Right now, you can buy it for about 100,000 feds."

Both hybrids' eyes went wide. "That little?" Hiro asked. That was really nothing. Ichigo had established the new currency - the Federal Reserve Voucher, or fed - as equivalent to the old Japanese yen, so this amount was quite pitiful for a house. Zero Two looked up at her darling, silently asking a question, and he nodded.

The realtor chuckled a little. "Like we said, we lowered the price _a lot_. That obviously doesn't cover utilities, but we figured -"

"We'll take it," Zero Two interrupted. "This house, for such a small amount? It's a steal, really."

 _That was… kinda easy_ , the realtor thought. "Well, thanks, guys. I'll get started on the requisite forms immediately," he told them, pulling up said forms on his PDA. "If you'd just sign here…"

The two hybrids smiled brightly at each other, the future they'd worked so hard to secure finally right in front of them.

* * *

It was very definitely August now, and everyone could feel it. The late summer sun cut through the air, causing sweat to form on everyone's faces.

Hiro was glad he'd made it back to his house, having just moved in with his honey. He found her setting up a computer that the doctor had in his stash, tinkering under a table.

The old man really was kind of a hoarder - they'd found everything from clothing to copies of manuscripts to technology in his vault. Hiro guessed that this was his last middle finger to APE, the conformist, unitarian future they'd tried to achieve secretly destroyed by its main researcher.

APE tried to change history, to make people forget, but Franxx had undermined that. He'd saved their past, and left their future for them.

Hiro was a little grateful for all that the doctor had done - he realized that without him, his honey wouldn't even exist.

He did ridicule the man for his beliefs, and he hated him for his methods, but even Hiro couldn't deny that the old man had helped them all out a _lot_ in the end.

Zero Two got out from under the table and dusted herself off, turning to find her darling smiling at her. "Oh, hello there," she called, kissing him on the cheek. "I found another thing left for us from the doctor."

Hiro furrowed his eyebrows. "A computer?"

"Apparently," she said, shrugging. "Ikuno said that it's pretty advanced. It came with a bunch of goodies too - look!" She pulled him over to the table, showing him the metric ton of games that Franxx also had.

 _We_ really _didn't know that much about him, did we?_ Hiro thought, looking the stack over. He sighed. "Well, guess we'll have a lot to do in our free time, huh?"

Zero Two grinned. "Yep, yep. You, me, and -" she stopped herself. "Darling, we really need to start thinking of names."

Hiro thought for a moment, looking outside. "Well, is now really a good time? We don't even know the little one's gender yet," he told her.

She pouted, giving him puppy dog eyes. He relented, both of them sitting on the couch.

"Do you have any ideas?" He asked, pulling out his PDA.

Zero Two thought for a moment. "Sakura?" She suggested.

Hiro paused before answering, "I don't know, it doesn't sound right to me for some reason."

Zero Two went back into thinking. "Yeah, I kinda get that feeling too. Uhm…Amefuri?"

 _Rainy?_ Hiro thought. _I can see it._ "That sounds good," he said. "But, let's not lock into just one at the moment. We've still got plenty of time."

A moment of silence followed, both merely enjoying the other's presence. Zero Two cut the air, exclaiming, "So, darling, are you excited? We've got two days before we get married!" Hiro nodded.

"It's hard to believe, isn't it? After all this time…" He trailed off, kissing her.

Before things could get heated, they were stopped by the ringing of their doorbell.

Hiro got up to go answer it, his honey whining at the interruption. He opened the door to find a nervously rocking Zeta. "Hello," he said, surprised. "Come in, it's sweltering."

Zero Two had gotten up to see who it was, and tilted her head at the gray-haired woman's appearance. "Zeta? What are you doing here?"

Zeta paused, breathing in. "I… uh, I came to apologize. For trying to hurt Hiro, back when I first returned. I wasn't in the best mental state - I'm still not quite there yet - but I'm trying."

"Apology accepted." Zero Two went up to her, and hugged her. "Trust me, Zeta, I know. Remember - we're always here to help. Call us!" She told her, smiling.

Zeta returned her embrace for a moment before breaking off. "Alright. Thanks, both of you," Zeta said. "Well, I'll let you two get back to it. After all, I've got your wedding to finalize."

The other hybrid walked outside, waving back at them.

"I really hope she does find happiness," Hiro mused, looking down at his fiancée and unborn child.

"Me too," Zero Two whispered. That's what they'd worked so hard for, after all - the chance to be truly happy.

* * *

Futoshi was glad for once. He'd been chosen to cater a large part of Hiro and Zero Two's wedding, and thus had little to do for a large sum.

The two of them had chosen to do a more private affair, rather than something flashy, so Futoshi only really had to bake for the rest of the squad and a few other friends of the hybrids.

As such, he was just finishing the bread that was needed when Nimina came up to him.

"Futoshi, I don't think this is enough," she said, looking down at the food.

"Why not? Seems like more than enough to me," he replied, turning around.

Nimina shook her head. "I thought so, too, but look here." She pulled up an image Ichigo had sent them, of Hiro and Zero Two with a large pile of food in front of them. The caption read, _This is their normal breakfast. Make a lot more than you think you need._

Futoshi sighed. "Alright, get another batch going. Wait - two more," he ordered, defeated.

Nimina gave him a thumbs up, running back to her post. He watched as she began the next two batches, deftly tossing the flour and spinning it in the air.

She caught him staring, smirking whilst she worked. "Like what you see?"

Futoshi nodded. "You're very good at baking, Nimina," he said factually.

She sighed and continued working. _Of course he's only looking at what I'm baking._

Futoshi himself got back to his task, finishing his batch and then joining Nimina with hers.

The two stood side-by-side, ensuring that the lovebirds would have enough bread to eat.

* * *

Ikuno sighed, leaning back in her chair. She'd gotten enough data from Strelizia, she thought, but she was having difficulties interpreting it. How did the mech move without _any_ fuel left?

She couldn't ask Hiro and Zero Two to come back in - their wedding was tomorrow - and regardless, Zero Two was too pregnant to pilot.

Naomi appeared behind her, resting her arm on the researcher's shoulder. "You alright, dear? You seem tired," she noted, putting her hand on Ikuno's forehead.

"I'm fine, you know. I just wish that this was easier to understand…" Ikuno complained, overlapping their hands.

Naomi closed her eyes and smiled. "You'll get it eventually, I'm sure of it," she chuckled. "You're smart."

"Thanks," Ikuno said, leaning up to kiss her girlfriend. "You should get to bed, you know. Big day tomorrow and all."

"Could say the same for yourself," Naomi replied. "Don't stay up too late!" She called, walking back to their room.

"I won't!" Ikuno yelled back, returning to her research. _Strelizia, show me your secrets…_

* * *

 _Today's the big day_ , Zero Two thought.

Today, she'd get that wish that she'd had since that cold winter's journey. She and her darling would finally be married!

Miku finished placing the rose crown on her head, a sort of nostalgia filling her.

"How's it look?" The hybrid asked, fiddling with the headband a bit.

"Perfect. I'm sure Hiro will love it, too," the redhead added, looking Zero Two up and down.

The pink-haired woman looked wonderful. Her hair was up in a ponytail, with a small veil covering the back of her head to the small of her back. The dress Kokoro had made for her wasn't too fancy - it was short, the frills barely touching the ground. It wound its way up her front, laying smooth against a barely-visible baby bump.

As it passed her bosom, the dress thinned out into an intricate pattern of chevrons stacked against each other, forming a multitude of X's. This pattern ended at her collarbone, stretching around to her shoulders and leaving a small oval-shaped void in the curve of her back.

Elbow-length, fingerless gloves were complemented by unseen stockings, both made out of a silky material. Zero Two was unsure where Kokoro had found it, but she was thankful for it. She was sure she wouldn't be getting itchy anywhere anytime soon.

She was wearing small, white heels, and that was honestly her least favorite part of the whole getup. They really, _really_ didn't feel nice.

The bride-to-be was wearing a large pendant around her neck. In it sat a large circular sapphire gem, about the size of her palm, surrounded by six smaller charoite crystals that had been left with the klaxosaur material they'd gotten a few weeks prior.

Miku and Kokoro were wearing relatively similar dresses - although they were lightly tinted pink and green, respectively - without the winding design and the chevrons.

Ichigo got a slightly more complex design, being the maid of honor: her dress was a soft blue, and it had a single line of herringbone on it.

As for Ikuno, she'd opted out of being a bridesmaid, preferring instead to surprise the hybrid couple with a duet performed by her and Naomi.

Zeta and Nimina were running last-minute coordination with regards to the timing, flowers, and food, along with a few other friends of theirs.

Miku smiled, handing her the bouquet of strelitzias. "Alright, I've gotta get going. See you out there!" She called, exiting the small tent onto the beach. Miku was slightly confused as to why they picked today, but she guessed it was because it was the same day that Squad 13 had come to this very spot three years ago.

The weather was alright - sparse clouds dotted the horizon, and it was a relatively cool evening. The sun had begun slipping into the ocean, its waves of orange and purple mixing.

 _We need to get this show on the road, if we want it to be over before nightfall_ , the redhead thought.

She ran up the side of their setup, joining Kokoro and Ichigo across from Mitsuru, Zorome, and Goro. Hiro had already made it to the middle, and was standing in front of Hachi, smiling.

They'd recruited their former supervisor without much difficulty - it seemed as if he really wanted to be involved.

Nana peeked outside from the tent, Zeta holding up her hand. Zero Two had requested her to be the one to give her away - they'd known each other for a while - and she was happy to do so.

Ikuno tapped Naomi on the shoulder, nodding to Zeta.

The gray-haired hybrid opened the tent flaps.

* * *

Hiro was… quite excited.

After all this time, almost a decade after he'd made that promise to his honey, he'd finally be following through on it.

Zorome raised an eyebrow quizzically as he made sure Hiro was looking his best. "What's that big dumb grin for?"

"Do you really need to ask?" Hiro replied dryly, trying to move as little as possible to let Zorome do his job.

The brown-haired man smoothed out a crease on his friend's jacket, standing back to look over Hiro once more.

He was in a new, smooth tuxedo. The black outer jacket's coattails came down to just above his knees, his legs covered in matching white dress pants.

Under the jacket, he had a gray, buttoned vest on over a white oxford shirt. His necktie was black, with white, countering waves of chevrons matching Zero Two's flowing across it.

On his feet were black dress shoes, ones left for him by the doctor. They'd been extensively polished, and Hiro could say that he was feeling quite uncomfortable in them.

He had a single rose in his front pocket, and a small violet on his lapel. His cufflinks were fancied up, to account for his decision not to wear gloves.

Zorome and Mitsuru were dressed similarly to Hiro, except both were wearing bowties. Zorome had an azalea in his front pocket, and Mitsuru had a chrysanthemum in his.

Goro, being Hiro's best man, had received a wardrobe upgrade akin to Ichigo's. The blonde-haired man was wearing a white tie with a single wave of black chevrons across it, in contrast to Hiro's. His flower of choice was an iris.

Futoshi was helping organize the reception along with Nimina, a job he was happy to have.

"Alright, looking sharp, man," Zorome told the groom, giving him a thumbs up. "Now, let's get out there to wait for your wife, eh?"

Hiro nodded. "Right."

Both men walked out of their own preparatory tent, this one a ways away from the beach setup.

As they approached the platform Hachi, the groomsmen, and the bridesmaids were on, Goro tapped his wrist.

Hiro nodded, seeing for himself that they might need to speed things up. The sunset was quite pretty, but it wouldn't last for much longer.

A minute or so after he'd gotten up to the platform, Miku ran up, and soon afterwards Naomi started playing Canon in D, an easy piece for her one hand. Ikuno joined her on the double bass, filling in for the low notes her girlfriend couldn't play.

Zeta opened the tent flaps, the bride walking slowly forwards with Nana.

Hiro's eyes widened, and his mouth opened slightly.

His honey was radiant, positively beaming at him. He returned the gesture, warmth from the setting sun giving him a halo.

When she was about a meter away from the platform, Nana released her hand, patting her on the back and grinning.

Hiro gently extended his hand to help his _wife_ \- in a few minutes, at least - onto the platform. When she was fully onto the structure, Hiro took her other hand, and Hachi looked at the two for confirmation.

The couple nodded, and the one-eyed man began reading from a notebook.

"Dearest friends, we've come here today to celebrate the bond that saved us all. These two people, rewriters of fate, have asked us to help join them together for eternity," he paused, "I doubt marriage will be as difficult as some of the things that these two have gone through, but it must be said: life has its ups and downs, its ebbs and flows."

"When you two promise to be together forever, you must respect that - to be together no matter what, even if it means you have to defy fate," Hachi said. "Now, have you two prepared vows?" Hiro and Zero Two nodded, hands still linked in front of them. "Hiro, would you like to start us off?"

The man in question smiled, before starting his soliloquy. "Honey, it's been such a long time since we first made that promise, under the mistletoe. That day, you became my world. Even when I didn't remember as much, even when you weren't there, my soul knew. It knew that I still loved you. Life without you here is… dull. It's monochrome, without spirit," he said shakily. "I promise to always be at your side."

Zero Two had teared up a bit herself, but was still able to do her own speech. "Darling… you've always been there for me, even when I pushed you away. I made it my mission to find you again after that day, and… well, here we are. Our love conquered all," she paused, sniffling a bit. "When I was still looking for you, days were all too long. Every waking moment felt like a nightmare. Now, it always feels like a dream. I promise to never, ever let you go."

Their celebrant discretely wiped at his own eye, smiling. "Do you have the rings?"

Hiro reached into his pocket, producing two small white gold rings with an amethyst embedded in each. He gently slid it onto his honey's left ring finger, with her repeating the gesture on his hand.

Hachi's smile grew wider and he said, eye closed, "I now pronounce you husband and wife."

Hiro and Zero Two lunged at each other, their meager audience clapping and cheering them on. As they continued kissing, many onlookers began crying, Zeta chief among them. She _really_ wanted something like this, eventually. It was… profoundly beautiful.

They broke apart after some time, touching their horns together, basking in the emotions they felt for each other, and enjoying the third presence making itself known among their minds.

As the sun finally sunk under the horizon, two silhouettes stood linked, illuminated under the orange and purple light.

* * *

The ceremony continued unhindered, the reception getting into full swing.

Futoshi really was glad that Ichigo had let him and Nimina know that the married couple would eat a lot, because the two alone had already gone through most of one batch.

He sat back in his chair, sighing gratefully that his food was being enjoyed.

"You enjoying the night?" Nimina's voice called from next to him. She pulled up a chair across from him, drinking some water.

Futoshi groaned. "It's alright. Nice to see those two getting their wish finally," he stated.

She laughed. "Yeah, it is nice," she agreed, looking over at the married couple dancing slowly. "Did you hear what they said in their vows? About them having waited for this for a while?"

Futoshi thought back to earlier. "Yeah, they did say that… I wonder what they meant," he pondered. _Hadn't they met in Mistilteinn? Hiro said that he changed because he ingested some of her blood during the initiation ceremony… he said he licked her knee?_

"That can't be right, though," Futoshi confirmed. "They met just before Squad 13's initiation ceremony."

"We'll have to find out for ourselves sometime, I guess," Nimina sighed. "For now, let's enjoy the night. Come on!" She called, dragging Futoshi up.

Mitsuru and Kokoro watched the exchange with Ai from afar, and another child along the way. They were content with their little family. After all, it was what made them want to work so hard.

"Ah, Hiro and Zero Two are dancing. Look!" Mitsuru pointed out to his daughter, as all three watched the newlyweds waltzing, having the time of their lives.

Ai giggled, bouncing on her father's lap. She didn't understand what the two pointy people were doing, but they looked like they were having fun! And she could tell that Mama and Papa were, too - and that was what was good!

Miku was standing close by the dancers, but far enough away that no one would assume she was also dancing.

The redhead sighed, unpleasant thoughts flittering into her head yet another time. _Why did he leave? Was he scared?_

She remembered very little of the night she went out with Zorome, other than that they had gotten _very_ drunk and that she'd woken up naked and alone in her bed.

She could only assume that they'd done _it_ , and that he wasn't ready for any repercussions that might have arisen from the act, or any more… long term effects.

Now that was a thought that scared her. What if she was…? _Stop it_ , she accosted herself. _You've been down this road before. If you talk to him, you can work things out._

She decided to shove these thoughts away, preferring instead to enjoy the moment. While she could, at least.

The married couple were conversing, and Zero Two shook her head. Hiro responded with a nod, going to get some more drinks.

Miku went up to the bride, wondering what just happened. "How are you doing?"

"Wonderful," she responded. Miku tilted her head, and Zero Two's eyes widened. "Oh, that? My darling asked if I wanted to do the bouquet toss or not, and I don't," she clarified. "It's… strange, honestly. It's all about fate, and we… we make our own, so…" Zero Two trailed off, seeing her darling was coming back.

Hiro joined their little huddle, handing his honey a small glass of water and kissing her. "Hi, Miku," he greeted, looking in her direction. "What brings you over here tonight?"

"The idiot," Miku sighed. Both Hiro and Zero Two groaned.

"What did he do _now_?" Hiro asked, exasperated.

"Well… you two remember the night you went out, right?" Miku said, shifting nervously.

"Of course. It was amazing!" Zero Two exclaimed. "Why?"

"Well… Zorome and I ended up going out to the same restaurant, and had a bit too much alcohol, I think…" she told them, Hiro raising his eyebrows.

"So, why is this an issue?" He asked.

Miku paused, composing herself. "I… I think we had sex afterwards." This brought Hiro to grin, before Miku responded, "It's not funny! He… wasn't there when I woke up."

Zero Two recoiled a little. "Oh, that's an issue. How about you take it up with him, instead of the _newlyweds?_ " The bride growled, causing Miku to shudder a little.

She congratulated them on their wedding, going off to find Zorome.

Said man was talking with Goro about who-knows-what towards the end of the beach. As she neared them, she began hearing snippets of the conversation.

"So, how do I get back from this?" She heard Zorome ask.

"Gotta play the long game, man," Goro replied. "It's what worked for me."

Goro noticed her approaching, and tapped Zorome on the shoulder. "Good luck," he whispered, moving away to find Ichigo.

Miku came up to the now uncomfortable man, putting her hands on her hips. "So?" She began.

Zorome rubbed the back of his neck, looking away from her. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"What? I can't hear you," Miku deadpanned.

"I'm sorry, okay! I didn't know what to do!" The brown haired man yelled, throwing his hands up. "What do you think I should've done?"

"I wouldn't have left, Zorome," she stated coolly. "We were so close, you know?" She held up two fingers, barely apart. " _This close!_ Had you stayed, we'd be together!"

Zorome's eyes went wide. "R-really?" He stammered.

"Really," Miku confirmed, sighing. "You're a gigantic idiot, you know that?"

He smiled sadly. "Yep, I do."

She exhaled. "Good, good. So, stop lying to yourself."

"What?" He asked, confused, before Miku leaned up and kissed him.

"There," she stated. "I'll be at my tent if you'd like to join me." She started walking off.

Zorome's brain reset itself, before he ran after her. "Hey, Miku! Wait up!"

Goro came out from the rocks he was hiding behind, grateful for his friends. Now he had to _actually_ go find Ichigo.

He turned around, coming face-to-face with the bluenette, now in a two-piece.

"W-want to try some l-late night swimming?" She stuttered.

Goro nodded intently, beginning to strip out of his dress clothes.

* * *

The bluenette had also managed to convince the newlyweds to join them, the reception beginning to die down anyways.

People were getting tired, but the excitement and alcohol present had prevented exhaustion from coming to these four.

They slowly walked up to the water, reminiscing and laughing about 'the old times.'

It was nice that they would have enough free time to maybe relive those moments, without much fear of things trying to kill them.

The sound of lightly breaking waves overpowered the noise of the cicadas as they got within a few meters of the water, Hiro and Zero Two experimentally dipping their feet in.

They found the water to be… mildly warm, and waded in, going off to the side.

Ichigo tested it with her own foot, and discovered that it was pretty cold. How were Hiro and Zero Two…?

Goro laughed. "It's cold, isn't it? Maybe we should stay out of it," he said, sitting down onto the cool sand.

Ichigo murmured an agreement, seeing an… interesting opening.

She shrugged to herself, sitting down on Goro's lap.

"H-hey, what are you doing?" He asked, cheeks heating up.

"What, you don't like it?" She teased, pressing herself against him.

"I think I like it _too much_ ," he grunted, bringing Ichigo to smile.

"Hey, Hiro and Zero Two won't be back for a while…" she suggested, tilting her head back.

Goro smirked. "Oh?" He said, leaning down to kiss his girlfriend.

Meanwhile, the lovebirds were still swimming, further and further from where Ichigo and Goro were sitting.

"Let's leave those two to it," Hiro said after Zero Two suggested they go back. "This is nice, anyways."

His wife nodded, the two of them swimming slowly on their backs, hands intertwined. They continued like that for a while, the water cooling some of the warmth in their connection.

They eventually came up on some rocks, Zero Two recognizing their appearance. She was surprised they were still here, but some things never changed…

"Honey, are you alright?" Hiro asked, pulling her out of the water.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she replied, shaking herself off a little. She sat down on the rocks, in mimicry of the past. Her darling joined her, leaning against her. She reciprocated, the two incredibly happy to be there with each other.

Something caught Zero Two's eye. "Darling, what's that?" She pointed up into the bright sky, Hiro following along.

"That's Pegasus," he said, tracing the constellation's square with his finger. Zero Two asked him what that meant, and Hiro took a moment to remember the myths he'd read up on recently.

"Pegasus was the winged horse of Perseus, a legendary hero. It was born out of the Earth, nurtured by the blood of the monster he slew," he said factually, looking over at his wife.

"That's a little disgusting." She stuck out her tongue.

"A bit, yeah," Hiro chuckled. "The horse was what let him save his future wife, though."

"Oh? That's nice," Zero Two responded.

"Yeah. She was tied up as a sacrifice to stop a sea monster from ravaging her land, but Perseus killed the beast," he elaborated. "Afterwards, he went back to his home with her and became the king."

"That's a sweet story," Zero Two said, looking up at her darling. "Reminds me of why we picked today…"

Hiro smiled, grateful that she'd reminded him. "Right, the meteor shower."

The Perseids. It was what they saw three years ago, and Zero Two had said she wanted to see them again. Any moment now…

"Darling! Look, there they are!" Zero Two started, pointing up.

He looked up, smiling at the streaks of light making their way across the night sky.

The way they blazed through, the way they travelled, seemed brighter to Hiro now than it had back then.

He thought that it might be because of his enhanced vision, but he knew that a large part of it was because of the person sitting next to him.

She was his wife, the mother of his child, but more importantly…

She was Zero Two, his honey, the girl - now woman - he loved.

And Hiro knew he wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

A/N: So, this chapter was honestly a pain in the ass to write.

Not because of any outside constraints, but moreso making sure that I wanted to include everything. (and also because of the outfits)

Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed this, and that you'll stick around for the next update.

Yours, dsw78


	6. A Reason

A/N: Not much to say, honestly. :)

Big thanks (as always) to my betas, KingPolar and Ambient_Riot, for their work.

* * *

Zero Two looked up from her artwork, narrowing her eyes.

She murmured softly, eyes dancing over the bright colors she'd drawn out. Something about it still felt off…

Hiro looked up from the book he was reading. "You alright, honey?" He asked, biting into one of the cookies Futoshi had given them as a wedding present. He'd given them _a lot_ of cookies.

Zero Two flipped the sheet of paper, looking expectantly at her darling. "Does this look right to you?"

"What?" He chuckled. "Everything you draw looks great to me, honey. I'm not the best at judging artwork."

Zero Two pouted, returning to her work. She'd finished the picture book up to when the princess left, and was working on illustrating the ending her darling had written.

It was a nice ending, and her darling liked what she'd done, so what was wrong? What was she missing?

Her eyes widened, realization dissipating the fog in her mind.

"Hey, darling? I'd like to add another page," she suggested, watching as her darling smiled.

"If it's what you need, then go ahead," he responded. His eyes flickered from her to the window, intently watching a snowflake to its resting place.

Something about winter intrigued Hiro. It may be because… well, he'd only ever experienced it in the cage, but the beauty of everything captivated him.

Maybe it was the weather - the first time seeing it like this. The experience of those tiny icy flakes drifting down lazily onto your hand, or your coat, or your tongue, and knowing that it was an entirely random meeting, one by chance. Maybe it was the feeling of starting over, of washing everything away. The knowledge of the death of the world, before it's reborn.

He'd almost done the same, after all.

Hiro shook his head, letting the familiar and yet so eldritch thoughts of death alone - and yet not alone, fall out of his mind. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about the past.

He set his book down, sitting up on the couch. Why had his honey asked him for more pages?

He leaned over her, wanting to see what she was working on. This method was foiled by her turning around to face him, shielding the paper with her body.

"Uh-uh. No peeking, darling," she admonished, tapping him lightly on the nose. "I'll show it to you when I'm done, 'kay?"

"Alright," Hiro sighed, leaning back into the couch. What other spirals could he get his thoughts into today? Maybe…

Zero Two watched her darling fade out of consciousness. After making sure he wasn't looking, she returned to drawing.

A few moments passed before the pinkette noted the sudden lack of noise filling the space, and deciding to change that, she grabbed the holoscreen remote, flicking it on.

While it was surprising to her that they'd managed to get networks and programming back in such a short time, it also wasn't. People like Zorome existed, after all. Although… the man wanted to be a teacher! Was he crazy? Maybe he was just an idiot. Miku still seemed to think so, anyways.

The news was on, and Ikuno was making another appearance. Apparently the "camera loves her," or so Naomi told them. The headline showed she was talking about… what? _Seas coming back_ , whatever that meant.

Zero Two got back to her drawing, allowing her gray-haired friend to drone on about some sciency-stuff that she didn't really understand.

The hybrid hummed softly, engrossed in her completely new creation. It was… an epilogue, of sorts - to the rest of the story book. She didn't really want any words accompanying it, feeling better to leave it as just images.

"...we'll be fine here, but the beach will be nearby." Zero Two's ears perked up at that comment. _Oh… the beach! Fun times with darling in swimsuits! And it'll be easily accessible~!_

Zero Two stopped herself. _Wait, why will it be close by?_ She thought, deciding to connect some dots in her head. _Oh, right! The sea's coming back! Maybe it won't be red!_

She'd have to mention it to Ichigo, she knew the bluenette loved the beach.

Half an hour later, Zero Two took her crayon off of the page with a flourish, and jumped onto her darling's lap.

Hiro woke up to find his honey grinning down at him. "Darling, look!" She presented the sheet of paper to him, and he took a moment to run his eyes over it.

She'd drawn the prince and the princess in the woods, a small log cabin behind them. Beside them, and in the woman's arms, were three children.

Hiro handed her the sheet back, and kissed her. "It's perfect," he said, slowly.

She beamed, then started laughing as Hiro poked at her now much larger stomach. She was due in about two months, and both of them couldn't wait.

They'd experience the feeling of raising someone for the future, together.

* * *

Miku punched in the keycode for her and Zorome's now shared suite, balancing a couple bags filled with small grocery items on her arm.

She crossed the threshold, untying her scarf. Where was the idiot, anyways? The sound of light humming coming from the bathroom was her answer.

She'd told him that if he wasn't out of the bath by the time she got back, there would be consequences.

And Miku was ready to fulfill her end of that bargain.

Zorome was having a nice day, reclining in the bath. How long had he been in here?

A sharp rattling on the door was his answer. _Long enough._

He sighed, rising from the tub and drying himself off, wrapping a towel around his waist. He slowly opened the door to find Miku glaring him down, unperturbed by his lack of upper-body clothing.

"What were you doing in there?" She probed, still unfazed.

"Not much," he shrugged, moving out into the hall past her. She followed him into their bedroom, only looking away after he told her he needed to put on actual clothing.

After a moment, he tapped her shoulder and she whipped around, her long hair hitting him across the face a bit less than lightly.

"I told you," she began, "that there would be consequences." He paled slightly. "So, _here's the consequences._ "

Zorome swallowed nervously, shrinking slightly before her.

"You're making dinner tonight," she said simply, walking out of the room.

Zorome straightened. "What?" He snickered. He'd been taking cooking lessons from Futoshi, so this would be a piece of cake.

He moved to the squad's kitchen, putting on an apron spectacularly. He struck a pose, relishing in the moment. Oh, he'd show her!

"What are you doing? Get to work!" His girlfriend called, disappearing back into their room.

Zorome's eyes shone from the kitchen light, his hands already grabbing at foodstuff.

Some time passed, where Zorome entered a machine-like state, losing track of when he was.

He was snapped out of said state by Miku entering the common area, the woman now wearing pajamas. Zorome could barely make out a slight deformation in her lower abdomen.

"Food'll be done soon," he said, narrowing his eyes. "You look cozy there, y'know."

Miku yawned, rubbing at her eyes. "Yeah, I know."

Zorome moved to speak. "Let me think," she said, cutting him off.

Zorome returned to their food, working a bit harder. His instincts told him that she'd cool off if she ate something.

A few minutes later, he placed their dinner on a few plates and carried it over to the squad's eating area.

The brown-haired man sat down across from her, steepling his hands. "So, what's up?" He asked, trying to act nicer than he had just a short while ago. He had a strange feeling that he was becoming whipped.

Miku looked at him from over her plate which contained some relatively fancy-looking sushi that took him all too long to make. "This is…" she looked away. "Pretty good."

Zorome rubbed the back of his neck. "Glad you like it. I've been _learning_ ," he enunciated, wondering why she'd changed the subject.

The two continued eating in silence, tension freezing the air over the table. Eventually, Miku finished her food and rested her head on one of her hands.

"Zorome… " she sighed, composing herself. "I… remember what we talked about?"

The man sitting across from her nodded, still chewing his food. She looked at him expectantly.

"Hmm?" He asked, confused. Why was she... ? She tilted her head downwards slightly in response, looking at him intently.

 _Oh_ , he thought. _That's right. I'd better do something in that regard._

After a moment of silence, she flared up, her cheeks reddening. "Do I have to spell it out for you?!" She yelled, leaning over the table. Her boyfriend raised his hands in defense.

"Agh, fine! I get it," he admitted. "I know, I know, you're pregnant. You have been for a while."

Miku sat back down, nodding sharply. "Right. So, what are we gonna do, Zorome?"

He leaned back a little. "Simple! I, the great Zorome, will grant you the honor of marrying me," he said nonchalantly.

Miku was… surprised, to say the least. She supposed she thought low of him, because that was the exact opposite of what she'd predicted. "Did you just propose to me?" She said, disbelief written on her face.

Zorome looked at the corner of his eyes. "I think so," he confirmed. "And?"

Miku smiled, wiping a small tear from her eye. "You're an idiot," she stated. "But you're one I wouldn't mind being with for a while."

Zorome mentally high-fived himself. _Nice._

* * *

Nana exited the small clinic room, wiping at her arm. She never would get used to needles, would she? She looked up from her arm at the two people waiting for her.

Hachi was sitting outside with Zeta, pointing at various men and talking to her. The gray-haired woman merely put her face in her hands, embarrassed. Did they _really_ have to go looking now?

The one-eyed man perked up when he noticed Nana approaching. "Hello," he greeted. "How was your shot?"

She sighed. "It was fine, although… can it do that to our bodies? Fix them? It seems Ikuno has a cure for everything."

Hachi's lips came slightly upwards, the result of a feeling foreign and welcome all at once. "Well, probably, and this wasn't even one of Ikuno's. Naomi actually made it - she said Ikuno had enough on her plate already."

Nana rolled her eyes and sat on the other side of Zeta, patting her on the back. "Is mean old man Hachi bringing you down?" The hybrid moaned an affirmation.

"Hey, I'm not that old," he said dryly.

Nana glared at him. "While I am happy that you're getting your emotions back, do you really have to torment this sweet girl here?" She rubbed Zeta's back, leaning down towards her head. "Don't let Hachi bully you, dear. It'll be fine!"

The green-horned hybrid moaned once more, straightening in the clinic chair. "Why are you guys like this in public?"

"So, it would be fine to tease you in private?" Nana smirked.

Zeta opened her mouth to speak, but decided better of it. She got up, wishing the two of them a good day.

She had an interesting feeling about today. She felt like she was going to be given a chance at _something_ , and she didn't quite know what.

She pondered this as she walked absentmindedly towards the Bird Nest's mall complex, marvelling at the frozen ground around her.

She was happy for Hachi and Nana - the two had become the parents she never had, and that came with all strings attached. The teasing, the helping out, and most importantly…

The trust. Zeta trusted them. She didn't trust a lot of people two years ago, but she… she had friends now. Friends who wanted to be around her, not empty shells that lived to fight.

Even still, though… did she have a purpose? Most days it felt like she was a wanderer, searching endlessly for _something_ , although exactly what it was she was looking for evaded her.

Was it love? Acceptance? A place to call home?

Zeta looked down at the ground, idly looking at the way her boots deformed the snow.

She hummed softly, arms extended. Maybe, right now, she didn't need a purpose. Maybe she could just enjoy life as it is.

The gray-haired girl started skipping happily, looking up towards her destination. She hummed louder, and started moving a bit faster.

She didn't notice the man walking opposite her, trying to get her attention. It wasn't until he yelled out, breaking her out of her stupor, that she turned.

The man in question was slightly taller than her, and was wearing a bright, heavy coat. His hair was cut short, arcing across his forehead, and was… a dark, comfortable shade of brown.

His eyes were sea-green, and they narrowed as he realized she was staring.

He cocked his head to the side curiously, before moving to introduce himself.

"Sorry for interrupting your walk," he began, extending his hand. "My name's Suriyo. I'm the guard that saw you first enter here, and you've… intrigued me, ever since."

Zeta shook his hand nervously, placing the other inside her jacket pocket. "I'm Zeta," she said, before smirking. "You're interested in me?"

He laughed lightly, framing his chin with two fingers. "Well, not in that way. But, you reminded me of me, you know."

Zeta's eyebrows came together, and her mouth opened slightly. "What?" She asked, looking at him as if he were insane. _He's sympathizing with me?_

He smiled sadly, looking at the ground. "I was lost too, you know," he stated. "My whole world came crashing down around me, and I was left to pick through the rubble." Zeta's eyes widened. "I'm not sure if that compares, but…" he trailed off, flinching under her gaze.

He cleared his throat. "Anyways… I was going to visit some friends of mine, and I was wondering if you'd like to come along, seeing as you don't seem to have much to do."

Zeta shook her head up and down hard, thankful that someone had managed to get her to do something. Maybe she'd make a few friends, too!

She turned around, forgoing her previous pursuit at the mall - she was probably just going to go window shopping again - in favor of this new venture.

Snow began to fall around them, and Zeta was entranced by its beauty. She stared at the crystals as they weaved through the air, and one landed on her nose. Her eyes crossed, and she smiled wide, teeth visible.

Suriyo regarded her out of the corner of his eye, raising his eyebrow at her fangs. _They're kinda cute_ , he admitted to himself. He knew it wasn't okay to be thinking of a girl he'd just met in such a way, and he told his subconscious as much. It wouldn't do to discomfort a potential friend.

They walked in silence for a while, before her acquaintance turned to face a graveyard. She raised her eyebrows.

"I thought we were going to see some of your friends," she said, confused. Suriyo looked at her and nodded, moving inside the solemn field.

Zeta stood for a moment, thinking over her options. After a moment, she gritted her teeth and ran after him, boots crunching the soft snow beneath her. As she came up to his side, she opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off.

"Do you remember the second battle at the Crevasse?" He asked, staring far off ahead of him.

Zeta nodded. "It was my last time piloting," she confirmed.

"Same here," he agreed, gaze unchanging. "My squad got hit hard when the aliens showed up. My partner and I… we were the only people who made it out."

He stopped in front of eleven gravestones, and reached into his pocket.

Zeta looked down, sympathy willing her to act and also to be still. "What happened to your partner?"

Suriyo pulled out a bouquet of eleven small goldband lilies. "Yellow blood cells got her, not long after the giant mech left. She pushed herself too far, trying to save our squadmates," he sniffed at the air, looking up. "She told me to move on. To not dwell on things too much."

He knelt down at the graves, leaving a blossom at each. Zeta began to feel the sympathy welling itself inside her turn to sadness at the action. True sadness, not the false sadness of feeling useless. The sort of feeling you get after, well, all your friends die, and you're left alone.

Zeta had never known the feeling. Those monsters in her squad, they weren't her friends. She couldn't even consider them her family. They were just… there.

She wiped at her eyes as Suriyo finished his honorations, moving back to where she was.

He gestured to leave, and she agreed in silence. As they neared the archway that broke the small cobblestone wall surrounding the field, he spoke up.

"You were a Nine, correct?"

"I wish I wasn't," she seethed, teeth clenched. Maybe, if she were a normal parasite, she'd have someone who could relate to her, someone who could-

"Ah, then you know the feeling," he said solemnly, exiting the graveyard.

Her eyes widened. "How did you…?"

"I've heard tell of the Nine they left behind. Alpha's stamen. People say she's… emotionless, unable to feel," he clarified, looking at her. "I don't believe that. Just from today, Zeta, you've proven to me that you're more than that. You've shown me your emotions, your hurt. You sympathized with me.

"You've felt useless too, haven't you?" She nodded quickly, surprised that this man could unravel her so easily. "So did I. But… give it time. You'll find something." He presented her with his PDA, the small screen displaying his contact information. "If you ever need someone to talk to, let me know."

She pulled out her own device, placing him in her contacts. They stood there for some time, watching their breaths hang in the cold air.

Zeta thanked him for everything he'd done today, before walking away. She still didn't know where she was going, but… a path was lit somewhere in the distance. She could feel it.

Suriyo smiled as her form disappeared into the snow, before turning and continuing back to his quarters. He felt better today, having opened up to someone for once. Maybe… the two of them could heal their wounds, together.

Maybe he could be the person she needed.

* * *

Ichigo walked slowly down the corridor, worry overtaking her thoughts once more.

 _Goro couldn't… he'll be fine, right?_

Zero Two and Hiro were busy, as was the rest of the squad, so their commander had taken to wandering today.

Goro had left on his first reconnaissance trip a week earlier, and she was scared. Edelweiss was an unknown, still. Just how much of a threat were they, really? _Enough of one for the klaxosaurs to warn us…_

She came up to Ikuno's lab and knocked slowly, sighing. Maybe she could talk with the researcher, if she wasn't too busy.

Said woman opened the door almost immediately, as if she were anticipating someone.

Her eyes widened. "Ichigo. How are you?"

"Fine, fine," the bluenette mumbled. "I'm still worried about Goro, you know."

Ikuno smiled. "Ah, he'll be fine. He's got two people to come back to now, eh?" The scientist chuckled, remembering that her short friend was pregnant. _Sure is happening a lot nowadays… maybe the term 'fertility wave' was too on-the-nose._

"That makes me feel a bit better, thanks," she smiled. "So, what are you working on?"

Ikuno moved out of the way to let Ichigo come in, and both sat facing her computer monitor.

"Well, I think I've managed to figure out how Strelizia operates. If you'll bear with me…" The scientist pulled up two schematics of the white-and-red mech, one highlighting something.

"What am I looking at?" Ichigo asked, intrigued.

Ikuno pushed her glasses up. "So, I haven't exactly found a name for this yet, but I can explain its purpose. After the female klaxosapien soul inhabiting Strelizia merged with Apus, _this_ developed on the mech," she said, checking to see if Ichigo was following. "So far, I've determined that when Zero Two attempts to connect with the mech, this mechanism moves her own soul to fill the gap left behind. Hiro acts as an anchor, allowing her soul to move back into her body after she disconnects."

"What if she stampedes?" Ichigo asked worriedly.

"She could probably maintain it for a while, but eventually she'd become stuck inside, and I'm not sure how we could get her out," Ikuno responded. "Hopefully, that'll never happen."

"How about… damage to the pistil's body?"

Ikuno sighed. "Full of questions, are we?" Ichigo blushed. "Well, as you know, with the old system, sympathetic injuries occurred but were relatively tame compared to the FranXX's actual damage. For example, when Delphinium lost its arm.

"You were fine, but your arm was broken. With this new system, your arm would be severed as well. In addition, some strain would be passed to the stamen so as to not completely overload your nervous system," the researcher explained, watching as Ichigo took it all in.

Ichigo rubbed at her eyes and sighed. "You haven't explained how the mech turns on without magma energy. How does it move?"

Ikuno clicked past a few more slides before coming to the one she wanted. It was another side-by-side comparison of Strelizia's schematics, with tubes and other wires running in and out of the device that she just explained.

"This is the power system hooked up to the aforementioned device. The device has a secondary function - it's a motor, and as far as I can tell, it runs faster the higher the sync between pistil and stamen."

Ichigo laughed. "You're telling me this thing basically runs off of love? That's stupid."

"It is, I won't lie," Ikuno agreed. "But it works."

Ichigo regarded the ceiling for a moment, before deciding she was satisfied with this answer. Although… it could lead to problems down the line, with pilots having to be in relationships in order for their FranXX to function. "Can you reproduce this technology?"

Ikuno pulled up some more schematics, this time of the other Squad 13 FranXX. "I've already begun upgrading Delphinium, Argentea, and Genista with it. I'll also be able to fit in some extra upgrades on your weapons and such."

"Why?" Ichigo asked. _These extra upgrades sound almost unnecessary._

"Why not? We're gonna need all the firepower we can get," Ikuno said nonchalantly.

Ichigo rolled her eyes. "Go ahead, Ikuno. And see if we can get Zeta a FranXX - she's been pestering me about it." The woman stood up, moving towards the exit.

"You too?" Ikuno laughed. "Won't she need a partner?"

Ichigo turned. "We'll figure something out. See you, Ikuno."

The researcher slowly waved, switching her screen over to some of Dr. Franxx's construction notes. The way he designed them… it was based completely off of pure physical compatibility, and yet now they needed them to be in a relationship to function?

Ikuno knew she had all the time in the world, but it still felt like she needed more.

* * *

Hiro walked briskly across the hall, looking for someone. He'd almost got all the invitations out, he just needed to get one to Ikuno.

The researcher had begun teaching a few friends of hers about the FranXX design process. She'd managed to adapt it to the new soul-system in a few weeks, and had begun constructing Zeta's FranXX.

She wouldn't show them the design, but Zeta was excited, so… it had to be alright?

Hiro shook his head, wondering why he was dwelling on someone else's FranXX, of all things.

 _I mean, you don't really have anything else to think about_ , he thought, nodding to himself. He was incredibly thankful for that - his mind was allowed to be at peace. No APE, no klaxosaurs, no VIRM… his thoughts were dominated by his wife.

Not that they weren't before, but there was absolutely _nothing_ preventing his brain to be filled with still images and quiet conversations and little daydreams about their child…

They'd recently found out that the little one was for sure a girl, and Hiro knew that it was going to be a wonderful experience.

He could see himself now, walking hand-in-hand with his honey and their daughter, laughing and twirling underneath the cherry tree. His face lit up, and he actually began to giggle. _Ah, how nice it is to be free like this!_

He approached Ikuno's lab, still smiling brightly. He knocked, and she opened the door after a moment. Turned out she was still teaching, so if he could get in and out quickly…

"You're in a good mood," she noted.

"Yep. I've got an invitation to the squad's Christmas party here, if you'd like-"

"Ichigo already gave me one, but while you're here…" she moved aside to let him in, and he waved to her students.

Ikuno returned to the center of the room, and cleared her throat. "So, back to where we were: stamen operations in the FranXX. We seem to be lucky enough today to have someone who knows what he's talking about here. Hiro, if you'd elaborate?"

His shoulders slumped down in defeat, and he sighed. He only really wanted to get back home to his honey, instead of explaining what he did inside the mech to a bunch of people he barely knew.

"Well, if I understand what Ikuno's talking about properly, then…" he began, "The most basic, and most important, task of any stamen is to keep the pistil, and thus the FranXX itself, from undergoing too much strain. That is, keep them out of danger, and don't overextend your resources. Either one of these can lead to harm for the FranXX, and thus your pistil.

"The secondary purpose of the stamen is to control the non-composite parts of the mech. For example, ranged weapons and the thrusters," he stated, watching as the women in front of him took notes. Ikuno smiled as she watched him go through the information.

"The third purpose of the stamen is to anchor the pistil when her soul transfers to and from the FranXX. Without the stamen acting as the FranXX's core, the pistil's soul could become trapped inside," he explained, motioning for emphasis.

"The final purpose of the stamen is to bolster the sync rate. Because of how the motor system functions, higher synchronization numbers are desirable. This is a double-edged sword - the higher the sync, the more efficient your piloting will become, but the risk of sympathetic injuries and of the pistil merging with the FranXX increase," he finished, exhaling.

Ikuno was impressed - she didn't really expect him to be able to recall all that, but he'd need it if he wanted to continue piloting. It was important information, after all.

Hiro looked at Ikuno, and wearily asked if he could leave. She nodded, and off he went.

He really didn't want to have to lecture about piloting ever again, but some nagging feeling told him he'd have to.

Right now, though, all he wanted to do was go home and cuddle with his honey.

He zipped up his jacket again, and watched his feet as they took him to his house. He unlocked and opened the door to find his honey, still in her pink pajamas, watching reruns of children's cartoons. _How cute!_

She turned at the sound of the door, and nearly knocked him to the ground.

"Darling! You said you wouldn't be a minute! You were gone for fifteen!" She pouted, pink hair tickling his cheek as she leaned over him.

"Ikuno had me explain some stuff to her students, sorry! I didn't know it would happen," he laughed, patting her on the head lightly.

She got off of him and returned to the couch, pretend-sulking. Hiro instantly realized what he had to do to make her feel better.

He approached her from the back of the couch and turned her head slightly, kissing her jawline. She moaned approvingly into the gesture, moving slightly to give him more access.

Hiro climbed over the couch and landed on his side, the two of them still intertwined.

The two hybrids made out for… quite some time, their enhanced biology letting them breathe easily. Hiro only noticed that a large quantity of time had passed when the holoscreen had switched over to Ichigo and a recently-returned Goro lighting a tree.

He pulled away, his honey mumbling disapprovingly. The couch would kill both their backs, he knew, and he really didn't want to go to the squad's event tomorrow in need of a chiropractor.

He switched the holoscreen off and helped his wife up, walking slowly up to their room. He took a moment on the way to stop by their future daughter's room, smiling softly.

Zero Two looked up at her darling, smiling for the same reason as he was.

 _Family. After all this time..._

* * *

Ichigo delicately placed the wreath and got down off the ladder she was standing on, clapping her hands together.

The party had been somewhat impromptu - she and Goro had put it together over the past two days, but… she thought it looked nice.

They'd thrown up some tinsel and lights around Squad 13's dorm, and there was some mistletoe in the corner.

Speaking of things in the corner…

She cleared her throat to get the two hybrids' attention, although they didn't do anything. She repeated the action, much louder this time, and they broke off.

"Something stuck in your throat?" Hiro asked, unaware of the discomfort he and his wife were giving to everyone else in the room.

Ichigo sighed, motioning for the lovebirds to join the rest of them on the couches. Zero Two's mouth formed an O, and she took her darling over to sit with their squadmates.

Once everyone had sat down, they began the gift exchange. It was something all of them had missed, especially without Hiro and Zero Two. But now…

Everyone was here, accounted for. There was no doubt as to people's safety. Nobody was stuck in deep space, and everyone's spirits were up - Zeta's, especially.

Her sudden shift in mood over the past couple weeks hadn't gone unnoticed by the squad, Hiro and Zero Two especially. Her horns seemed brighter than they had been before, the luster present on the married couple's apparent on hers, as well.

Maybe she'd…?

Zero Two would have to file that away for another time. Maybe later tonight - her darling had suggested they do some 'team bonding games,' and she couldn't wait!

The whole squad opened gifts until quite late in the night, and some regular eggnog made by Futoshi and Nimina was enjoyed by all.

It was around eleven when Hiro suggested they begin the 'team bonding exercises' that he'd been working on. Zorome and Miku were asleep, Ichigo and Goro were sitting by the window talking quietly, and Kokoro and Mitsuru were relaxing on the couch opposite them, playing with Ai. Naomi and Ikuno had put some festive music on, and were messing with the robotic dog that Hiro and Zero Two had gotten them. Futoshi and Nimina were watching an old movie on the holoscreen, one the news stations had on.

The only person who wasn't preoccupied was Zeta. Hiro sighed. He didn't want to annoy anyone, but he really thought that the events he had planned would help them get to know each other better. Or, if not that, spice the night up a little.

He managed to get Zeta's attention, and was going to get Futoshi and Nimina's attention when his honey stopped him.

"Darling, let's leave them to it. We can do those exercises any time, you know. Not just now," she said, pulling him down to rest his head on her shoulder.

"You're right," the black-haired man conceded, kissing her softly on the temple. Zeta looked on and smiled, jealousy surprising her by keeping its ugly head down.

Eventually, Naomi and Ikuno moved back to the couches, as did Ichigo and Goro. Hiro decided that now was as good a time as any to begin phase two, and so did his honey.

He cleared his throat, gathering everyone's gazes. "Most of you are here, so I think we can begin."

"I'd like to start us off with a toast: to friendship," he said, raising his glass of eggnog. His squadmates followed, faces bright.

After a few hearty sips, he put his glass down. "Now, for the real deal." He motioned for Ichigo to get a tired Zorome to wake Miku up before beginning.

He relaxed into his seat. "We'll start off with some basic questions. How about… your favorite memory of the winter season?"

"Hey, are there any length requirements?" Futoshi asked, excited to hear what others had to say. Hiro shook his head. Futoshi grinned, and decided to lead off the answers. They took turns going around the room, before it came to Hiro. He looked over to his honey, a question written in his eyes. She nodded, and he began to talk.

"You all remember the Garden, right?" Everyone nodded. "This happened a while ago, back when all of us were there."

"I was walking outside one day, still confused as to why the world was like it was, when I came across a red-skinned girl being dragged along against her will. I asked and asked and asked the adults about who she was, why she was here, to no avail. No one answered me," he recalled, his friends looking on curiously. Who was he talking about?

"I decided to go searching. One day, I saw her again, fighting against the adults in her room. She didn't want to be here. _She's like me_ , I thought. Even though we looked different, even though she had these ginormous red horns and teeth sharper than the winter wind, she was the same as me." Hiro looked down at his wife, smiling. Ichigo's eyes went wide, piecing what he'd been saying together.

"We broke out. We went on an adventure - we read the picture book, I gave her a name, licked her knee, and we fell in love. Even though the world tore us apart, tried its hardest to keep us from happiness, it failed. Each and every time, it failed. You know why?" He looked around the room, tears in his eyes, and yet still smiling brightly. "Because, we promised," he finished.

The room was silent, everyone contemplating the meaning behind his words.

Goro was the first to speak. "Hiro, you… you lied? About meeting Zero Two in Mistilteinn?"

Hiro nodded. "I had to, I'm sorry. We would've told you about this earlier, but… it wasn't safe. APE was still watching, and when they weren't any longer, we weren't here. That was why I suggested we do the 'team bonding exercises,' so that we could finally tell you all about this."

Mitsuru smiled, eyes tired. "So, that was why you changed so drastically so quickly. I always wondered why…" he trailed off, blinking slowly.

Ichigo was next. "You… I was always so worried, you know? Worried why what happened happened, why you just… forgot. But, I know now. It was for her," she smiled at Zero Two, bringing the pink-haired woman to blush.

It was getting late - really late - and many people had gotten up to go to bed after Hiro finished. He himself got Zero Two up, much to her chagrin, and wished everyone a good night.

He walked out of the room, presents in one hand and his honey's linked with the other. As they neared their house, he realized that the cold wasn't really bothering him. _Must be the warmth from my friends._

He opened the door and led his sleepy wife to their room, her plopping onto the bed and falling asleep almost instantly. He laughed, glad she was already wearing nightclothes, and changed into his own.

He got into the bed beside her, smiling at the way her fangs showed a little when she slept. He didn't know how anyone could ever think of her as a monster just because of two little protrusions on her head and how her teeth looked, but sometimes people confused him.

Never his honey, though. _Together, we are one_ , he remembered telling her. Their appearances were like that now, too - yin and yang, fire and water, completing the other.

It took Hiro a while to remember what he did with Zero Two, but he never forgot why.

As he closed his eyes and let dreams come, a single thought pierced the late-night haze.

 _For her._

* * *

A/N: Ah, winter. A nice season, if you ask me.

Dinobabies are coming. Be prepared.

And after that… things pick up.

Yours as ever, dsw78


	7. Lovers

v=pAgnJDJN4VA

* * *

Hiro's eyes shot open, welled tears dripping down his cheeks. He lifted his head off… he lifted his head off?

When he went to sleep the night prior, he had brought a pillow in so his back wouldn't hurt after resting in a hard-backed chair… how had he ended up lying down?

Where was he? What was going on? Last thing he remembered he was in… heaven? Was this heaven? Was he dead?

He slid a finger down the length of his arm, checking to see if he was still in the proper material plane. The tingling sensation he received was confirmation enough, and he sat up completely, letting his enhanced eyes adjust to the low light present in the room.

The black-haired man took in his surroundings slowly, as if to confirm that everything was actually there. He was in a relatively small hospital room, the blank walls somehow more comforting in the absence of light, and a bouquet of roses lay perched against the chair he was in. Someone's figure was present in the bed in front of him, but he didn't know whose.

Allowing curiosity to take him over, he slowly moved forward to examine the other person with him. It took him but a moment to realize that lying in the bed in front of him was his wife, sleeping softly.

Teary oceanic eyes widened, and their owner lunged onto his honey, holding her tightly.

The sudden movement and contact woke her up, and she met his crying eyes, arms moving to encircle his back.

"Darling, are you okay?" She asked, returning his hug. Why was he crying? He was here when she fell asleep and they were laughing and talking about happy things. What happened?

The man in her arms took a moment to compose himself, eventually gazing up at her with wet eyes, the sight causing her sadness as well.

"I… I had a nightmare," he breathed, voice almost imperceptible. He sounded so small! This was unlike her darling, it had to have been something terrible for him to be like this…

She cocked her head to the side, lips curled in empathy for her husband. "Wanna talk about it?"

He shook his head quickly, looking away from her. "I… yeah, sure," he agreed, sighing heavily and preparing to dive in to what he remembered from his sleep.

Zero Two watched this curiously, mentally preparing herself for whatever he might have in store. If it was bad enough for him, what could it possibly do to _her_?

Hiro took a few minutes to explain what he'd seen while sleeping, then looked up at her for a reaction. Her frown had grown deeper, and concern was very apparent in her eyes.

"Darling… you know that could never happen, right?" She asked, nudging his arm.

His head went up and down slowly, and he sighed. "I know, but it just felt so _real_ …"

Seeing that he was about to go back into considerations about it, Zero Two turned his head towards her and put their lips and horns together. He leaned further into her, and she followed suit. After a moment, they broke apart.

"Better?" Zero Two asked.

Hiro nodded. "Better." Another moment passed where he recomposed himself, sitting back on the chair with his wife's hand still clutched tightly. As he spared a glance downwards, his eyes widened. "Oh, that's right!"

His hand reached down to the side of his chair, and when it returned Zero Two saw that he had some roses. "Happy Valentine's Day, honey," he said, warmth radiating off him.

A smile worked its way onto Zero Two's face, replacing the frown that had marred its features. "Oh, darling, you didn't have to…" She was cut off by him kissing her on the cheek, with him then replacing the lilies at her bedside with the roses.

"I wanted to get you something, you know. Thought it'd be nice," Hiro said, shrugging.

Zero Two rolled her eyes as a tinge of scarlet colored her cheeks. "Every moment with you is a gift," she whispered, eyes focused on him.

Hiro smiled, then shook his head. "Isn't that my line?" He said, chuckling.

Smile growing wider, she looked at him, eyes filled with warmth. "Thanks… for everything."

"I could say the same to you, honey."

* * *

Zeta sipped at her… was it hot chocolate? She didn't really know, but what she did know was that a nearby couple was engaging in… she didn't want to think about it.

 _Next time,_ before you go out, _check what day it is_ , she thought, cursing at herself. Who goes out for coffee _alone_ on Valentine's Day?

This question was answered as she looked over at a sullen Ichigo, the woman clearly feeling the absence of Goro. Zeta didn't exactly know the details of this second scouting mission of his, but he was supposed to come back in the summer sometime.

The hybrid remembered him feeling down about not being around for his child's birth, but it was necessary, he said. Edelweiss was an unknown, and they needed information if they were going to engage in any sort of combat with them.

She wasn't one for speculation, but she had to assume that they were… well… either completely backwards, or misinformed. After all, who could still follow that sort of system?

A sudden vibration from her PDA startled her and stopped her consideration, Zeta removing the device from her jacket pocket and looking at the message she'd received. It was from… Suriyo?

 _you alright?_

She tapped out a response, crossing her legs. _Yeah, I'm fine._

 _ok good I saw you looked a little down there_

The hybrid's ears twitched, and she looked around, wondering how he could… oh.

Her brown-haired friend's eyes met hers from the window, and he waved slowly. Motioning his head towards the door, he silently asked if she would come outside. After a moment of consideration, she stood up, threw away her cup, and exited the small café, rebundling her scarf.

"Sorry for interrupting," he said, playing with his thumbs. "You just looked a little… lost. Seems like you could use someone to talk to."

Suriyo watched as her scarf bobbed up and down slowly, her attempts to talk with him muffled beneath the cloth. He leaned in closer, signaling that he couldn't hear her.

She pulled down the scarf, blushing profusely. "I don't even know why I wear this thing. I'm plenty hot already."

Nodding slowly so as to not insinuate anything, Suriyo went to speak again, but he stopped himself. "Let's walk and talk, is that alright?"

Zeta nodded, falling in step beside her friend, again wishing that she had chosen different attire and a different day to go out. It felt as if everything was going wrong, had she done something bad? Karma wasn't something she believed in - it wasn't even something she knew about until recently - but it sure felt like it was acting on her now…

Suriyo paused mid-step, realizing that he could no longer hear his companion walking behind him. "Zeta, are you sure you're alright? You're pretty out of it, it seems."

Her mouth opened slightly, and it looked like she was going to tell him about what was troubling her. However, she decided better of it and closed her mouth, shoulders slumping.

He wasn't sure if she saw the look of concern on his face as she joined him, but if she did she paid no heed to it. "Where are we going?" The gray-haired woman asked.

The man beside her shrugged. "I dunno. Away from couples, I suppose," he let out a small chuckle, slowly exhaling and watching his breath move into the late winter sky.

The two walked in silence for a while. An uncertain air hung between them, but Zeta knew its name.

Longing.

Eventually, they reached the coastline. A heavy fog hung over the duo as they stared down at the frozen sea some distance ahead of them.

Zeta broke the silence. "I wonder what happened to the animals."

"Huh?"

She looked up at him, eyes distant. "I read about seagulls yesterday. The book said that they were in this area, or… at least they were when it was written. Do you think they'll come back?"

Nothing but the sound of a breeze passed between them as Suriyo contemplated his answer. After some time, he settled on something and turned towards her. "Sure. If we believe, I guess."

 _What? Come on man, that sounds pretty stupid._

A long silence followed before the taller man furrowed his eyebrows. "Is this why you weren't feeling great earlier?"

Letting out a single chuckle, Zeta turned back towards the ocean. "Well… not exactly. I guess it is the deeper thinking bringing me down, but I'm not any less happy about not being defecated on by some bird."

"So, what have you been thinking about that's making you sad?" Suriyo said, then stuttered, "I-if you don't mind my asking, of course."

She shook her head calmly. "It's fine. It's just… Edelweiss and all. I saw Ichigo in the café earlier, and it reminded me that we're missing Goro at the moment."

"Oh, yeah. He went out on reconnaissance, what, a few weeks ago? I remember seeing him off."

Zeta continued, unaffected by Suriyo's response, "You can empathize with that, not having your partner around. Must be hard, right?" He nodded. "So why am _I_ unhappy if there's no real trouble in my life?"

He touched his hand to her shoulder, moving slightly towards her. "Don't be like that. Everyone has their own issues. There's always something wrong in life, but it's important to work through that," he explained, compassion very apparent in his tone.

Zeta turned toward him and smiled, facing the ocean again. "I guess you're right. Thanks," she said, placing one of her hands over his own still on her shoulder.

Suriyo internally sighed. _This girl… she is so difficult to read._

His hybrid friend, as if remembering where she was, suddenly removed her hand from his. She was blushing, and he could tell it wasn't completely because of the weather. "It's cold," she noted.

"Mm. I think I'll head back," Suriyo murmured, removing his hand from her shoulder. He began to walk off, turning around to find Zeta still with her hand on her shoulder, appearing to be frozen.

After a moment, she regained her composure, calling out a "Thanks!" as she watched him leave. Suriyo waved it off, internally considering if he thought she would advance past her self-hatred.

 _If she believes._

The hybrid woman remained by the coastline for a few minutes more before covering her mouth and nose with her scarf. As she left, she swore she could hear a bird call.

* * *

Miku stood half-in, half-out of the kitchen, arms folded across her chest.

"You alright? I can't smell anything…" she said, chuckling under her breath.

Zorome placed an open hand over his face, sighing into it. "Rations are almost out. Told you we should've gotten Ichigo to store more."

She took a moment to consider this, nodding just a little. "Well, we can talk to her about it when we're in a better season, I guess." The red-haired woman sat down at their table, idly looking at it. "So… what do we have?"

Zorome presented two items to her: lettuce or… some sort of fish.

"We've had fish for the past three days, though!" She complained, before stopping herself. Now was _not_ the time to be picky, not when her well-being and that of her child's were at risk of malnourishment. "I'm… fine with whatever, Zorome."

He gave her an affirmative glance as he began to cook. Ever since he started taking those lessons with Futoshi, Miku had noticed a marked improvement in his products. _He can do anything he sets his mind to, after all, she thought. Remember back when you two piloted? How he pushed himself forwards for… well… you?_

Lips curling upwards a tiny bit, she steepled her hands and looked at the man hard at work in front of her. I'm his motivation now!

She sat smiling like that for a while, occasionally peeking at what Zorome was doing, but she had come to enjoy the silence in situations like this. It was nice to be able to contemplate, to unwind after all they'd gone through. It was surprising that it had taken this long for her to realize that she could have time to think, but she supposed it was because her brain had finally gotten rid of APE's… habits.

A timer went off, and she tracked Zorome as he brought their food to the table. It was simple - he'd had to use less than he normally would so they wouldn't run out quickly - but that was fine, or so she thought.

Miku cut a piece off of her fish, then ate it. Savoring the flavor, a recent conversation with another former pistil came to mind.

"That reminds me," she began, mouth still full of food. "Kokoro said it was strange that _you_ cooked. She thought I did."

Zorome snorted. "Your cooking sucks, though."

Miku nodded. "That's what I told her! She seemed convinced I could do it if I tried hard enough, and while I appreciate the sentiment…" The red-haired woman paused, swallowing her food. "I don't like being babied by her all the time. She's all fired up over us pistils being pregnant and all, and it's pretty creepy."

"She does… tend to be like that, now that I think about it," Zorome said, looking upwards. He lowered his head, looking Miku in the eyes. "I wouldn't look super deep into it."

Miku sighed, playing with the food on her plate a little. "She always asks us strange questions, like 'What ideas do you have for names?' or 'Would you be happy having more?'

Before she could continue, the man sitting across from her spoke. "Wait, do we have an idea for a name?"

"I asked Zero Two about that, and she just said to pick something important to you. Any ideas?"

"Woah, hold on. Zero Two goes to these 'meetings?'" He made air quotes. "And… erm… let me think," he said, motioning for her to continue.

"Yeah, she comes for about two minutes. I think it's Hiro trying to get her to get out more. She's always been quiet, except around him." _Because of the torture, right? They told us after Christmas about it… And I'm making myself feel down._

Zorome snapped his fingers, startling her. "I've got it!" He exclaimed, pausing for effect. "Truth. That's what's most important to me."

"...any reason why?"

"Well," he began, "I was talking with Hiro 'bout it, and he told me that he was planning on giving his child the childhood he never had. We were only given lies by Papa, so I'll give our child the truth, even if I have to remind myself daily."

Miku looked at him strangely. "You're spending too much time around Hiro; you're starting to sound like him, you know?"

Zorome tilted his head. "Is that bad?"

She shook her head. "No, not really. But I fell in love with _you_ , Zorome. Not some… strange wordplay or insight.

"I like the name, though. It fits."

Zorome nodded, another silence settling between them. Suddenly, recognition flashed over his face, his eyes slowly widened, and he checked his PDA.

She followed suit, realization - her term for "text on the screen" - dawning on her: it was Valentine's Day.

"You want to go out?" Zorome asked, rubbing his neck.

"Drink lukewarm, stale coffee? Nope, I'm fine here."

Her husband nodded, getting up. "I'll find something for us to watch, then!" He exclaimed, sending her a thumbs up, eyes closed.

She rolled her eyes, wondering if he'd ever change. _Better question - do I want him to?_

* * *

It was the day Hiro had been waiting for, consciously or unconsciously, for the past nine years: the birthday of his and his wife's child.

As he stood just outside the hospital room where she was, he took a moment to reflect on the past couple days. Aside from the all-too-real nightmare he was subjected to, they'd been quite nice, if hectic. Seemed to be that everyone wanted data - especially Ikuno, although he was fine with her being around - and it worried him. His honey was not a test subject, not something to treat like...

Hiro sighed, deciding it better to think of something else. Negative thoughts like that would only bring him down, which would only cause more negative thoughts to form. Spiraling was unhealthy, even more so for him - his only true supporter was also the only person whose wellbeing he was actively worried about.

 _She's tough, she'll be fine. Can't have any stupid logic here; this is reality. Things are real, proper medical procedures are real._

His body had other thoughts, his fingers tapping out an erratic allegro against the wall he was leaning on. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get those thoughts out of his head, could he?

Speaking of things getting out of his head, he saved a few brain cells by nearly catching a water bottle Zorome had thrown at him. He shot the shorter man a glare, before lowering the bottle.

"Sorry! I was aiming lower, but I forget that these things -" he gestured towards his own drink, "- are pretty light. Anyways, how are ya' holding up?"

Hiro gave him a nervous smile, the raven-haired man drinking some of the water. "I'm alright. Stupid fears creeping in, but they're easily taken down. It's strange, though - I wish today could be over and yet also last forever. Days like these are once in a lifetime - I'll never get something like this again, you know? And yet, I just want to know everything will be fine."

Zorome nodded, mouth open slightly. "O...kay. Well, if this'll take your mind off of things…" he messed with the cap on his bottle for a moment before continuing, "...what's 'truth' in Japanese?"

That brought a laugh out of the frazzled man for what felt like the first time that day. "What? Why would you need to know _that_?"

Purple eyes shifted quickly to their owners' left and right, ultimately settling on Hiro. "Miku and I were discussing names for the kid, and I came up with that."

"Don't you know Japanese?"

"...no, only you and Zero Two do. We didn't get to read fancy foreign books, remember?"

Dumbfounded, Hiro looked at him for a moment, then shook his head. "It's shinjitsu. Find a translation dictionary next time, we have a few here and there."

The auburn-haired man took a note on his PDA, making sure to record this information - he couldn't be too careful - then congratulated his taller friend for the significance of the day. Hiro waved him off, returning to his former position of leaning against the wall.

 _Alright, unfocus. Think about nothing and everything, that's what's worked up to now._

Hiro closed his eyes, settling into a comfortable trance. Images and thoughts floated in the void, meanings thrust upon their creator.

The house. Two vacant rooms, two filled yet empty ones. Familiar sea-blue eyes, their owner unknown. Red and blue horns breaking, mixing, and coalescing into something new… something… truly wonderful. Beautiful.

Black and pink, red and blue; one sum for two equations. A simple addition - one whole born of two parts, creating a person for the future. Legacies created, something to leave behind. Fate willed their separation, but he didn't care. He knew she didn't either. Anything and everything, anywhere and everywhere, they promised.

The nervous, expectant father breathed deeply, before sighing and opening his eyes. He pinched the corners of those two dotted oceans, putting more weight onto the wall.

Hiro still didn't know if that dream was prophetic, but if it was he was going to punch something, and punch it _hard_. He'd punch fate itself if he had to, if nothing else than to exact vengeance in any way possible.

Of course, it would never - _could_ never come to that. Plus...

A clamoring began inside the room, and Hiro could hear machinery beeping now, his ears focusing in on the space just behind him.

Light, urgent footsteps made their way to the door, and opened it just as Hiro turned his head to look in that direction.

"Things are looking good, we should be over and your baby delivered soon. You may continue to stay here if you'd like, we'll send someone out to get you."

The male hybrid nodded, and the nurse he was talking to turned himself around and walked away. Hiro was quite glad that the hospital staff were amicable, because that was another problem that he wanted to avoid. To be thought of as a monster on his child's birthday, now that scared him.

Ears perking up again, he caught a snippet of a conversation between another nurse and Ikuno.

"...give it to him myself. Make sure everything is going smoothly in the meantime."

Ikuno appeared in the entryway, a folder filled with papers in her hand. She extended it towards the father-to-be, and he held them tenderly.

"What are these?" He asked.

Ikuno tapped the other side of the aged manilla, prompting him to turn it over. On it were printed the words _CODE: 002 MEDICAL RECORDS_.

Ikuno looked back into the room, then returned to face Hiro. "I should get back in, but I've highlighted something important regarding your child."

She left him there, and he figured that, if nothing else, it could help kill some time while he waited for the delivery. Flipping through the stack of papers, he eventually came across the one Ikuno had highlighted on - "Early Life Procedures." At first, the operations seemed simple enough: vaccinations (ultimately redundant), simple intelligence tests, and...

What was this?

 _02 15 2125 - Prehensile limb amputation, no regrowth observed_

Another trait of the klaxo sapiens? Perhaps it was only present on natural-born ones, as he had no… "prehensile limbs" anywhere on him.

If so… that would mean that their child would have it. An early warning from Ikuno, he guessed. "Watch it, your kid has three arms," or something to that extent. He was grateful, although he did not expect to have a difficult time with child-rearing. Based off Zero Two's behavior around him when they were younger, their baby would have her mother's brain, so it would pick up on what was accepted or not quickly.

That'd be fun, he decided. Seeing their future's first steps, first words, first day of school-

He was getting ahead of himself, again! _That happened_ there, _too, so stay out of it. Stay in the here-and-now._

Ears suddenly refocusing, he heard several exhausted breaths followed by loud crying. Could it be…? Well, he'd have to wait to find out, but he wondered just what his honey was feeling right now… the horns could come in handy with that.

 _And now I'm excited._ He let out a small laugh, allowing a breath to escape from his lips, held there for far too long.

What would she look like? Him? Her? Both of them?

 _Hah… ah… don't get ahead of yourself._

Back to the present, he reminded himself. This time, there was no replacing, no switching of the new for the old. An addition, something extra was gifted to them. His senses told him it, and his soul knew it.

Letting himself listen in to the room once more, he again heard the noisy crying of a child, accompanied with the standard commotion one might expect at a time like this. If he could just find...

A breathing that was slowly resetting itself was what he was looking for, and when he found it his heart missed a beat.

 _We're okay, we're all okay. No stupid nightmares, no made-up scenarios._

The door opened, an orderly inviting him in. Stepping across the threshold, he caught a glimpse of his newborn daughter, Ikuno confirming her gender from across the room.

She was the tiniest thing he'd ever seen, with some purple tufts of hair on her head accompanying two horns of the same amethyst. Based off his own patterns and his honey's, he could assume her to also have pupils and markings around her eyes akin to her horns.

His emotions began to overload as he felt his heart jump up and down in his chest, everything about the situation becoming magnified in his bright eyes.

Looking lower, he saw what Ikuno had brought him the folder for - on his daughter's lower back was a small, quivering tail of purple and black chevrons. _Like her grandmother, if only she were here._

On their own accord, his eyes drifted to his wife. She lay, still panting, watching her daughter as closely as he was. The love in her eyes was palpable, and as she turned to him that feeling only grew in intensity.

Hiro walked over to his wife's side and held her hand, both of them smiling the brightest they'd ever seen, since their… third-to-last reunion.

 _Why were we sep- not now, man._

"I told you… I'd be fine," she said, small, hoarse laughter bursting out. "How is she?"

"Wonderful, honey, absolutely wonderful. She's one of the best things to ever happen to us, I swear," Hiro said, locking eyes with one of the - now two - most important women in the world.

Zero Two sat up slightly, grasping his hand tighter. "I'd agree with you, but I'm exhausted."

In an instant, she fell back onto the bed, eyes closed. Her chest was moving up and down in tandem with his own, deep breaths escaping both of their lips. Hiro breathed another sigh of relief at his wife's alright health.

Ikuno brought his daughter over to her parents, the newborn having calmed down slightly. Taking his daughter from his friend, Hiro held his future in his arms for the first time that day, emotions flowing out of his eyes.

Deciding to share the feelings he had in this moment with his sleeping wife and daughter, he brought all three of their horns together in the blissful silence. An interesting, new feeling came in response, one of discovery and new horizons.

 _We're in for fun, aren't we?_

Outside the window, a black and white bird took flight, joining its brethren in the frozen winter rain.

* * *

"So, Hiro, how are things?"

The man in question curled his lips upwards while also sighing, a gesture Ikuno had never seen him perform before.

"I'm tired. Unbelievably tired, but I'm happier than ever."

"Elaborate, if you would." Ikuno opened a new note file on her computer, fingers settling over her keyboard.

"Well… where to begin?" Hiro looked upwards, eyebrows coming together in consideration.

Smile unfading, he faced back towards his gray-haired friend. "Sorry, I'm getting lost in thought. What was the question?"

Ikuno was anticipating this reaction - he'd become a little airheaded lately - so she was not surprised. "How is Amefuri? Has anything particularly interesting happened?"

"Amefuri? She's about what we expected from the books, nothing out of the ordinary there. It is… difficult to deal with your child when she has three 'arms' and is sharp as a tack, but that was also... not... incredibly surprising." He said, yawning.

"So, she's a handful, then?" Ikuno asked, typing out some more of what Hiro was telling her.

Hiro shook his head. "A bit, but we can handle her. Like I said, it's great - I've also been having a lot of fun."

Ikuno looked at him curiously. "You sure, Hiro? You look worn out, and you're yawning constantly. There's an increasing need for daycare centers, and I know Zorome and Miku are looking to get into that. You could see if they would want to do something. You know, a sort-of test run."

"Well, I want to see more about how she develops first. With public opinion as is, I'm also somewhat worried about how people perceive her. Children are very judgemental, you know."

The scientist nodded. "Well, back to the topic on hand. Everything's going alright, you say?" Hiro nodded. "Well, then, we're done here. You can go home. Say 'hi' to Zero Two for me."

Her sleep-deprived friend stood up, and as he was leaving she called out that he should keep her updated. Hiro rolled his eyes, continuing towards his home.

On his way back, he passed by the FranXX grounds. Looking at the steps, he chuckled to himself and shook his head.

 _Not then, not today, not ever._

 _...I do need to get working, though. Should talk to Ichigo about that._

He walked with purpose, not stopping to contemplate the spring flora like he normally would. Zeta and Suriyo were out walking, and they waved at him, but all he did was nod.

The gray-haired hybrid looked at her friend and shrugged. "Huh. He's focused."

Suriyo murmured an agreement, following Hiro with his eyes. "Guess so. Where were we?"

"Recommendations on movies to watch, I think," Zeta said, continuing their discussion.

Hiro came to a stop before his front door, reaching for his keys in his front pocket. Retrieving them, he entered his house quietly, not knowing where or what his family was doing at the moment.

His caution proved to be warranted as he entered the living room and found his daughter sleeping calmly on his wife's chest, the pink-haired woman apparently also about to nod off.

Walking slowly and carefully, he came up behind the pair. Hiro placed his hands over them as if touching a feather, and kissed his wife on the top of her head. "Hey," he whispered.

She tilted her head upwards enough to allow their lips to connect, and both of them smiled into the kiss.

It was unceremoniously interrupted by their daughter's tail lightly tapping against her mother's cheek, as if to signal that _hey, I'm here, don't do anything_ too _bad._

Zero Two glanced down at the violet-horned baby in her lap, meeting her eyes. "What? You want daddy all to yourself?"

Amefuri moved her eyes off of her mother, to her father, then back to the woman she was lying on. Hiro chuckled under his breath, wondering if Zero Two would relinquish him or not.

The woman in question was pouting and thinking hard, wondering how she could satisfy both her need for Darling and her daughter's want for her father. An idea soon popped into her head and she shifted on the couch, patting the empty spot next to her.

Hiro vaulted over the couch, bouncing slightly as he landed. It took him only a moment to extend his arm over his wife's shoulder, leaning in to greet Amefuri.

"Smooth," Zero Two complimented, leaning back in her seat. "Our little one here was… honestly, kinda surprising!" The red-horned woman sighed.

Hiro's eyes didn't leave his daughter, but he endeavored to know more. "How so?"

"She didn't do her usual 'I'm going to cry and scream until I get attention' shtick, she went with the 'heartbreakingly sad almost-silent mewling and wagging my tail around' today."

As if she could understand what her mother was saying about her attitude, Amefuri's tail came down onto Zero Two's thigh a little bit hard, and the hurt woman sat up.

"Ow, Amefuri! Don't do that!" She chastised, slapping the baby in her lap on the tail lightly.

Amefuri looked up at her mother, purple-dotted eyes wide and hurt, Hiro mimicking his daughter's gaze. "She loves you, you know."

Zero Two frowned, looking away. "...doesn't feel like it…"

"Do I have to remind you that you tried to eat my hand when we first met?"

His wife only pouted more. "Fine, I guess… she'll warm up in time, right?"

Hiro looked over at Amefuri's tail, the appendage now rubbing lightly where it had hit Zero Two. "I think she's already started to, at least unconsciously."

Zero Two tapped her daughter on the nose. "Is that right, sweetie?" She nuzzled their horns, causing Amefuri to giggle from the emotions her mother was transmitting. Hiro scratched her tail as it swayed side-to-side slowly, rejoicing in this moment with his family.

* * *

Zorome tugged at his collar and wished he could unbutton his cuffs, reminding himself not to wear a long-sleeved shirt next time. Nobody told him it would be this hot! This was the first "real" spring they'd had!

He _wanted_ to be at home with his newborn son and wife, but he needed to get this done. His two favorite orange-haired people could wait just a little longer - Ichigo finally had some time free, so he could talk to her about the daycare idea. It was a miracle, he knew, as she'd been pushing herself so hard, trying to ignore Goro's absence.

 _I feel bad for her. I don't know what I'd do if Miku were out doing something like that, and I didn't know how she was doing._

Zorome's eyes caught on something on his left, and he stopped empathizing for a moment to analyze what he was seeing.

Futoshi was sitting in his shop, his assistant leaning against his shoulder.

 _Good for him. It's nice to see everyone getting along, hah!_

He was going to wave, but put his hand down before he began. No time for teasing, no time! Had to talk to Ichigo, then get home!

The rest of his walk passed without any event of import, and he found himself in front of Ichigo's workplace. Letting himself in, he continued on towards her room and prepared his speech again in his head.

 _Alright, you got this. Remember, it's a need and something that people generally want - and Miku and I are qualified. Everything's good._

He paused in front of his blue haired former-squad-leader's door, then knocked. Ichigo told him he could enter, and as he did he found her forcing a smile.

"You alright?"

She nodded, but Zorome could see longing in her eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said curtly.

"Missing Goro?"

"Yeah. But he'll be alright. I'm sure."

Zorome nodded, allowing a moment of silence to pass. "Well, I think we should get into the daycare idea, right?" He suggested, looking at her for a sign of approval. She motioned for him to begin, and he described it to her.

"Sounds good, but are you positive that just you and Miku can handle a load like this? We have a lot of parents wanting babysitters," she said, before laughing nervously.

Zorome had anticipated this, but it still caught him slightly off-guard. "Well, I'm thinking we can start small - maybe just 'our' kids for a while."

"'Our?'"

Zorome blinked. "Squad 13's, I mean. You know - Ai, Amefuri, Shinjitsu…"

"Ah?'" Ichigo muttered.

Zorome widened his eyes. "Well, yeah. I'd like to get some experience in before we go big." Ichigo nodded.

"Anyways, that seems fine to me, if you think it's alright. I'm trusting you'll do it well," Ichigo said, clicking back on her monitor.

The brown-haired man stood up and gave her a mock salute, as she had come to expect, before leaving.

As he was walking back to his house he thought of all the fun things he could do while watching the kids. _Good for them, too - they'll be making fast friends._

A darker voice called from the back of his head. _And they won't be losing any, either. This is no Garden._ We _are no Garden._

* * *

Hiro tied his tie in the mirror, confirming that all was well with regards to his getup. Loath as he was to wear such formal attire, it was befitting of a teacher to do as much.

 _I_ really _wish I could spend more time at home with my honey and Amefuri, but… we need the money. Can't live off what Ichigo gave us forever._

He walked over to his wife, the woman just finishing putting her hair into a ponytail. Hiro had to admit… despite how much he adored her normal hairstyle… she looked good. Especially with the dress. _Especially_ with the dress.

 _She looks good in anything, idiot_ , he thought.

He picked up Amefuri - they'd drop her by Zorome and Miku's on the way, as they'd been gracious enough to host her - and looked her over.

They'd put her in a small light-purple dress that Kokoro had made that matched her eyes, and thankfully the material wasn't an irritant. That… would not be fun for anyone.

Zero Two had turned around and was looking her darling over. She liked the tie. A lot. They'd have to use it later.

She moved past him to the door. "Ready?"

He walked over, pecking her on the lips. Couldn't do it during work hours… he'd go insane. "Yeah, I suppose."

His honey nodded, and they exited their house. As they made their way to the FranXX grounds, they chatted about what each of them would be working on for their first day - Hiro would start covering basics of stamen operation, while Zero Two would focus on explaining the mind and soul meld with the mech itself.

About halfway to the grounds they arrived at Zorome and Miku's house, and said their goodbyes to Amefuri. It was difficult, both of them knew, but it was only temporary. Their favorite hot-blooded couple weren't idiots, despite the two constantly calling each other that. They could take care of her.

The couple continued their pilgrimage to work, hands held tightly between them. Words were unable to capture the feelings and heat in that grasp, but Hiro thought it had something to do with longing… maybe for Amefuri, maybe to be home, maybe to be able to relax forever.

 _Can't do that, though._

Hiro laughed under his breath, shaking his head. Zero Two caught the motion and smiled, squeezing his hand.

"We'll see her in a few hours, okay?"

"Right, right," he said, picking up his pace. _Work_ couldn't wait forever.

* * *

Zorome waved goodbye to the hybrid couple, gently closing his front door. He introduced himself to Amefuri the only way he knew how - head patting. She seemed to be fine with it.

Two pairs of violet eyes met and Zorome was surprised at the amount of fear he found in the little girl's. _She probably wants to be with her parents._ Hiro had told both him and Miku about her tail, but the appendage still surprised Zorome upon first viewing.

 _Uh… it's gonna be difficult to take care of her with the tail…_ Zorome thought, looking Amefuri over. Miku was watching their son and Ai in the other room, so he brought Amefuri in for introductions.

Miku's first thought upon viewing the purple haired girl was that she looked like a cat. Specifically, a pretty scared cat. Iwanttogohomewherearemyparents-type cat. Amefuri's tail was tucked in between her legs, and her eyes were as wide as saucers, staring first at her, then Ai, then Shinjitsu.

Zorome cleared his throat. "This is Amefuri, she'll be staying with us today as well. Say hello, Ai."

The gray haired girl tilted her head, but still hesitantly waved to her new acquaintance after a moment of contemplation. Shinjitsu did nothing, but stared curiously at her tail. As Zorome sat down near him, the auburn haired boy reached out to touch it, and managed to do so - startling its owner greatly.

However, he immediately retracted his hand, and with the knowledge - or intuition - that she was of special interest, Amefuri brought the tail up towards Shinjitsu and allowed him to touch it.

Zorome watched this exchange with his head angled and mouth agape. Weird… but not bad. _Definitely pretty cool, though! Like I thought, fast friends._

Miku smiled as she watched the two getting along, then shifted her attention to Zorome, who was entertaining Ai with a puzzle block game. He realized that she was looking at him and he flashed her a smile, eyes closed.

 _We've got this in the bag._

* * *

 _"Your name is…?"_

Zeta looked up at the ceiling as the movie's credits played, both her and her companion silent as they reflected on the experience.

She lightly prodded him with a foot, bringing Suriyo to face her.

"Hey… you ever think about getting into a relationship with anyone?" She asked, feet propped up against the brown haired man's side.

"Hmm?"

She leaned up slightly, facing him. "Do you ever wish you were in love with someone?"

A tinge of red came over his cheeks, and he looked back to the television. "Well, part of me does, sure, but it's not like I'm always thinking about it. Why do you ask?"

Zeta faced the TV as well. "Just… I feel this… awkward emotion anytime I'm around couples. Especially Hiro and Zero Two. It's not jealousy, so…"

Suriyo smirked. "Sure you're not 'missing anyone' - waking up crying and all that?"

She tilted her head and narrowed her eyebrows, the reference missing its mark. "Huh? Oh - right," she chuckled. "I wish."

Suriyo murmured an agreement as an uncomfortable silence fell around them, both contemplating their mutual singledom. An idea made itself known in Suriyo's conscious, but it was quickly shot down. _Oi, not the time! Not now!_

However, on Zeta's end, similar intrusive thoughts were… not quelled. A plan began formulating in her mind, Suriyo watching her eyes glazing over. "Zeta? You alright?"

Snapping out of her trance at the sound of his voice, she nodded quickly. "I'm fine. Was something happening?"

"Uh… yeah, looked like it," he answered, voice curt. "Your eyes got all cloudy, it looked pretty creepy. Seemed as if you were about to jump me."

His hybrid friend let out a series of loud coughs, before standing up. "It's a bit hot in here, right? I'm going to go for a stroll," she said, grabbing a jacket.

Suriyo also got up to follow her - he didn't want to be alone in someone else's apartment, even if she was his best friend - and narrowly made it out behind her as she closed the door.

Zeta checked the lock, then rubbed her hands together, sighing. "Well… that was fun. Let me know if you want to… hang out again sometime?"

The brown-haired man moved his head up and down. "Sure, I'll shoot you a message. See you!"

She waved as he left, hands settling in her jacket pockets, she walked the opposite direction. As she passed by her front window, she thought she saw a monochromatic bird perched, but…

 _Imagination is a fickle thing..._

* * *

A/N: Kept you waiting, huh?

Sorry about the hiatus. This _was_ meant to be out on the fifth of August, but a whole lotta stuff came out regarding the series' production and fucked me up (see: Lost.) Again, sorry.

I'll try to get back on schedule for next week, but school's started back up, so I'm not holding my breath there.

If you're wondering why I changed the name, I just thought it sounded cooler (there's also a bit of deeper meaning if you look into it.) In addition, "Rehabitation and Repopulation" became a _little_ too close to what I'm avoiding (making this story about breeding. It's not.)

Shoutout to my guys over in Cerasus for being awesome and betaing. Pray for us all!

(Thanks to Booze for the tail idea. Love ya bud)

Yours as ever, oh reader mine.


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